7> 


THE  PENTATEUCH, 


PROGRESSIVE  REVELATIOiNS  OF  GOD  TO  MEN. 


Designed  for  both  Pastors  and  PEoriE. 


By  rev.  henry  COWLES,  D.D. 


"  Under&tandcst  thou  what  thou  readest?    And  he  said,  How  can  I  unlesa 
Bome  man  should  guide  me?"— Acts  viii  :  30,31. 


NEW  YOEK: 
D.   APPLETON    &    CO.. 

549  AND  551  Broadway. 

18  7  7. 


Entered  accordiug  to  Act  of  Congress,  iu  the  year  1873,  by 

KEV.  HENRY  COWLES,  D.D., 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE. 


My  reasons  for  treating  the  Pentateuch  topically  rather  than 
textually  will  be  obvious.  Criticism  on  the  original  text  is 
rarely  needed.  There  is  seldom  the  least  occasion  to  aid  the 
reader  in  following  the  line  of  thought  or  the  course  of  argu- 
ment. The  demand  here  is  rather  for  the  discussion  and  due 
presentation  of  the  great  themes  of  the  book.  My  plan  has 
therefore  aimed  to  meet  this  demand,  discussing  these  themes 
critically  so  far  as  seemed  necessary  either  because  of  their  in- 
trinsic nature  or  because  of  popular  objections  or  misconcep- 
tions ;  and  always  practically  so  far  forth  as  to  show  the  import- 
ant moral  bearings  of  these  themes  as  revelations  of  God  to  man. 
It  has  been,  however,  my  purpose  to  explain  all  the  difficult, 
doubtful,  or  controverted  passages. 

The  modern  objections  to  Genesis,  more  or  less  related  to  true 
science,  have  been  brought  under  special  examination  because 
they  are  at  present  eliciting  so  much  public  attention.  Let  all 
real  truth  be  welcomed  and  held  in  honor,  whether  revealed  in 
the  works  of  God  or  in  his  word.  It  is  hiowledge  of  God  that  we 
seek ;  some  of  which  we  learn  through  his  works  of  creation  or 
of  providence ;  more  through  his  revealed  word.  It  behooves  us 
to  dismiss  all  apprehensions  lest  these  diverse  forms  of  divine 
revelation  may  come  into  real  conflict,  and  equally,  all  fear  lest 
the  Bible  should  be  compelled  to  recede  as  Science  advances. 

The  points  of  contact  between  sacred  and  profane  history  and 
antiquities  have  been  carefully  examined,  both  fjr  their  own 
intrinsic  interest  and  for  the  incidental  confirmation  which 
they  bring  to  the  sacred  volume. 

(iii) 


IV  PREFACE. 

As  will  appear  in  the  Introduction  I  have  had  an  eye  some- 
what to  the  idea  of  progress  in  these  successive  steps  of  divine 
revelation — yet  with  an  aim  not  so  much  to  prove  a  point  dis- 
puted as  to  illustrate  a  fact  sometimes  overlooked ;  hoping  thus 
to  heighten  the  reader's  interest. 

This  wonderful  grouping  of  those  events  of  the  earliest  ages 
of  time,  given  us  of  God  through  the  masterly  hand  of  Moses,  is 
for  every  reason  worthy  of  profoundest  study.  In  the  humble 
hope  that  these  pages  may  serve  to  obviate  old  difficulties ;  sug- 
gest new  aspects  of  truth ;  inspire  fresh  zeal  in  this  study  ;  and 
enhance  the  spiritual  profit  of  every  reader — this  volume  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  Christian  public.  Henry  Cowles. 

Obeklin,  O.,  October,  1873. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction,  p.  1. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Creation,  p.  9. 

Naturally  the  first  fact  revealed  ;  Its  moral  lessons,  9; 

The  origin  of  this  record  and  the  manner  of  its  revelation  to 

men,  12; 

Kature  and  the  supernatural,  13 ;  Theories  on  the  origin  of  life,  14  ; 

The  sense  of  the  word  "  day"  in  Gen.  1 :  16  ; 

Argued  (1)  From  the  laws  of  language,  17;  (2)  From  the  narrative 

itself,  18; 

Objection  from  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  21; 

(3)  From  Geological  facts  and  their  beariugs  on  the  question,  22; 

Prominent  points  of  harmony  between  Genesis  and  Geology,  25; 

Does  "Create"  (Gen.  1:  1)  refer  to  the  original  production  of 

matter?  26; 

The  relation  of  v.  1  to  v.  2,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  chapter,  29; 

The  work  of  the  fourth  day,  81 ; 

The  sense  of  the  record  as  to  the  origin  of  life,  vegetable  and 

animal,  32 ; 

On  God's  "making  man  in  his  own  image,"  33; 

The  relation  of  Geu.  2:  4-25  to  Gen.  1:  35. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Invariability    of    "Kind"    in    the  Vegetable  and   Animal 
Kingdom,  37 ; 
The  theory  of  Mr.  Darwin,  38;  The  issue  between  Darwin  and 
Moses,  38 ; 

Darwin's  five  main  arguments,  39;  Brief  replies,  40; 
Objections  bearing  genei-ally  against  Darwin's  scheme,  43; 

(1)  It  requires  almost  infinite  time  back  of  the  earliest  traces  or 
possibilities  of  life,  43; 

(2)  Requires  what  Nature  does  not  give— a  close  succession  of 
animal  races,  differiug  but  infinltesimally  from  each  other,  43; 

(3)  His  argument  is  essentially  inulerialinlic  ».\\A  is  therefore  false,  45 ; 

(4)  It  ignores  man's  intellectual  and  moral  nature,  46; 

(."J)  It  ignores  or  overrides  the  law  of  nature  by  which  hybrids  aro 

infertile,  46 ; 

(0;  This  scheme  is  in  many  points  revolting  to  the  common  senso 

of  mankind,  46 ; 

(7)  It  is  recklesss  of  the  authority  of  revelation,  48. 

(V) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN. 

Two  main  questions :  (1)  Is  the  human  family  older  than  Adam  ?  49 ; 
(2)  How  far  back  was  Adam  ? 

The  argument  for  man's  high  antiquity,  (1)  From  traces  of  his 
skeleton,  50 ;  (2)  From  his  tools  and  works,  52 ;  (3)  From  the  tradi- 
tions and  chronologies  of  the  old  nations,  59. 

CHAPTEE  III. 

Hebrew  Chronology,  60; 

From  birth  of  Christ  back  to  the  founding  of  Solomon's  Tem- 
ple, 60 ; 

First  disputed  period  — that  of  the  Judges,  60;  second  do.; 
that  of  the  sojourn  in  Egj'pt,  62;  third  do.;  between  Terah  and 
Abraham,  64;  fourth  do. ;  xVora  the  creation  to  the  flood,  66;  fifth 
do. ;  from  the  flood  to  the  call  of  Abraham,  68. 

CHAPTEK  IV. 

Antiquity  of  Man  Resumed,  72; 
On  the  Antiquity  of  Egypt,  72 ; 

The  date  of  Meues,  its  first  king,  and  of  the  pyramids,  74 ; 
Unity  of  the  human  race:  Were  there  races  of  pre-Adamic  men, 
now  extinct?  75; 
Are  the  present  living  races  descendants  of  the  same  first  pair  ?  75 ; 

CHAPTEK  V. 
The  Sabbath,  77; 

As  old  as  Eden  ;  made  fOr  man  as  a  race. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Events  of  Eden,  81; 

Is  the  description  of  man's  fall  symbolic  or  historic  ?  81 ; 

The  moral  trial,  84;  The  temptation,  87  ;  The  fall,  88. 

The  curse ;  the  first  installment  of  the  penalty  for  transgression,  89; 

The  first  promise,  90. 

CHAPTEE  VII. 

From  the  Fall  to  the  Flood,  92. 

Notes  on  special  passages.  Gen.  4:  1,  "I  liave  gotten  a  man— the 
Lord,"  92  ;  Gen.  4  :  6, 7— words  of  the  Lord  to  Cain,  92  ;  Gen.  4 :  23,  24, 
the  song  of  Lamech,  92 ;  Abel's  offering  and  the  origin  of  sacri- 
fices, 93 ;  The  great  moral  lessons  of  the  antediluvian  age,  95. 

CHAPTEE  VIII. 
The  Flood,  99 ;  ' 

Its  moral  causes,  99 ;  Its  physical  causes,  101 ;  Was  tliis  flood  uni- 
versal ?  102 ;  (rt)  as  to  the  earth's  surface,  (6)  as  to  its  population  ; 
Traditions  of  a  great  deluge,  105. 


CONTENTS,  Vii 

CHAPTEK  IX. 

Fkom  the  Flood  to  the  cali,  of  Abraham,  107; 

The  law  against  murder  and  its  death-penalty,  107 ;  The  prophecy 
of  Noah,  108;  The  genealogy  of  the  historic  nations,  110;  Babel 
and  the  confusion  of  tongues,  112. 

CIIAPTEE  X. 
Abraham,  lU; 

His  personal  historj' ;  the  divine  purposes  in  the  new  system  in- 
augurated with  him  ; 

Concentration  of  moral  forces;  a  more  definite  covenant  between 
God  and  his  people  ; 
Utilizing  the  family  relation,  116  ; 

Developing  a  great  example  of  the  obedience  of  faith,  120 ;  (a)  In  leav- 
ing his  country  at  God's  call,  120 ;  (6)  In  waiting  long  but  hopefully 
for  his  one  son  of  promise,  120;  (c)  In  obeying  the  command  to 
offer  this  son  a  sacrifice,  121 ; 
God's  revelations  to  Abraham  progressive,  122  ; 
The  missionary  idea  in  this  system— blessings  to  all  the  na- 
tions, 125 ; 

The  Messiah  included  in  these  promises,  12G  ; 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  128  ; 
The  angel  of  the  Lord,  130. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Patriarchs,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Joseph,  132; 

Isaac,  132;  Jacob  and  Bethel,  133;  Jacob  at  Mahanaim,  137;  The 

struggle  of  prayer;  The  points  and  grounds  of  this  conflict;  The 

law  of  prevailing  prayer,  140 ; 

Jacob  and  Joseph,  113;  Developments  of  personal  character,  144; 

Joseph  in  Egypt,  146;  The  hand  of  God  in  this  history— seen  in 

the  sufferings  of  tlie  innocent,  1.55  ; 

The  hand  of  God  in  overruling  sin  for  good,  158  ; 

The  purposes  of  God  in  locating  Israel  in  Egypt,  160; 

Ancient  Egj'ptian  history  and  life  confirms  Moses,  162 ; 

Si>ecial  passages  considered  : 

Going  down  into  Sheol,  Gen.  37:  35;  Jacob's  benedictions  upon 

his  sous.  Gen.  49, 168 ;  The  Scepter  of  Judah,  Gen.  49 :  10, 169; 

The  less  readable  portions  of  Genesis,  171 ;  Close  of  Genesis,  172. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Exodus— 

The  oppression,  173;  Moses,  175;  Ills  great  mission,  179; 

The  ten  plagues,  185  : 

These  plagues  supernatural,  187;  Several  of  them  specially  adapted 

to  Egypt,  189;  The  case  of  the  magicians,  190;  The  shape  of  the 

demand  upon  Pharaoh  to  let  the  people  go,  193 ; 

The  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart,  194  ; 

History  of  the  case   195;  What  is  said  of  God's  purpose  in  it,  203; 

Light  on  tliis  case  from  God's  revealed  cliaracter,  201. 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK   XIII. 
The  Passover,  206 ; 

Consecration  of  all  flrst-born,  208; 

The  long  route  to  Canaan,  210;  The  march  and  the  pursuit,  211; 
The  guiding  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,  212 ;  The  locality  of  the 
Red  Sea  crossing,  216. 

CHAPTEK  XIV. 

The  Histokic  Connections  of  Moses  with  Pharaoh  and  Egypt,  217. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Events  near  and  at  Sinai,  223; 

The  manna,  223;  Rephidim  ;  water  by  miracle,  226;  The  battle 

with  Amalek,  229 ;  Jethro,  280 ; 

The  Scenes  at  Sinai,  232 ; 

The  national  covenant ;  The  giving  of  the  law,  234  ; 

The  moral  law,  given  from  Sinai,  236  ; 

To  be  distinguished  from  "  the  statutes  and  judgments,"  237; 

The  commandments  considered  severally ;  (1)  238;  (2)239;  (3)2-11; 

(4)  241;  (5)  243;  (6-9)  243;  (10)  245; 

Pi'ogress  in  the  revelations  of  God  to  man,  216. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Hebrew  Theocracy: 

The  supreme  power,  251 ;  The  powers  of  Jehovah's  Vicegerent,  253 ; 
The  General  Assembly  and  their  Elders,  254;  The  scope  aflbrded 
for  self-government,  democracy,  255 ;  The  fundamental  principles 
of  this  system,  258 ;  Its  union  of  Church  and  State,  259 ;  Its  princi- 
ples and  usages  in  regard  to  war,  with  notice  of  the  war-commis- 
sion against  the  doomed  Canaanites,  261;  The  grant  of  Canaan, 
and  the  command  to  extirpate  the  Canaanites,  262. 

-   .  CHAPTER  XVII. 

Ihe  Civil  Institutes  or  Moses,  or  the  Hebrew  Code  of  Civil 
Law: 

General  view  of  it,  270  ;  Analysis  of  the  crimes  condemned,  273; 

Crimes  against  God: 

Idolatry,  273 ;  Perjury,  274 ;  Presumptuous  sins,  275 ;  Violations  of 

the  Sabbath,  276  ;  Magic  arts,  276 ; 

Crimes  against  parents  and  rulers,  279 ; 

Crimes  against  person  and  life,  i.  e.  crimes  of  blood,  280 ; 

Cities  of  refuge,  282;  Murder  by  unknown  hands,  284  ; 

Crimes  against  chastity,  285 ; 

Statutes  to  protect  rights  of  property,  286  ; 

Statutes  against  usurj',  288 ;  Statutes  tor  the  relief  of  the  poor,  289; 

Crimes  against  reputation,  292, 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Civil  Institutes  of  Moses  Conclttded: 
Hebrew  servitude,  294 ; 

Man-stealing,  294 ;  No  rendition  of  fugitives,  295 ;  Severe  personal 
injuries  entitled  to  freedom,  295;  Periodical  emancipation,  296; 
Religious  privileges  of  servants,  298  ;  The  slavery  that  existed  be- 
fore Moses,  299  ;  The  couditiou  of  Israel  in  bondage  in  Egypt,  299; 
The  Jubilee,  300  ; 

Its  bearing  upon  foreign  servants,  301;  Meaning  of  "bond-serv- 
ant," 302;  Servants  of  foreign  birth,  302 ; 
Judicial  Procedure,  304 ; 

Judges ;  The  seat  of  justice,  305 ;  The  processes  of  prosecution,  305 ; 
Advocates ;  of  witnesses,  305 ; 
Punishments,  306 ; 

Fines,  306;  Sin  and   trespass  offerings,  307;  Stripes,  307;  Excom- 
munication, 308;  Modes  of  capital  punishment,  308;  Disgrace  after 
death,  308;  Judicial  procedure  and  punishment  summary,  308; 
Statutes  without  penalties,  309  ; 
Two  Historic  Qicestions  : 

(a)  How  far  is  this  system  indebted  to  Egypt?  3)1 ; 
(6)  How  far  have  the  best  civil  codes  of  the  most  civilized  nations 
been  indebted  to  this  Hebrew  code?  314  ; 
Progressive  revelations  of  God  in  this  code,  319. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Religiods  System  or  the  Hebrews,  321; 

Classification  of  sacrifices,  322;  Choice  of  animals  for  sacrifice,  323; 

The  scenes  of  sacrifice,  324;  The  significance  of  sacrifices,  325 ;  Of 

the  portion  taken  as  food,  326;  Special  sacrifices,  327; 

Sacred  limes  and  seasons,  327  ; 

The  three  great  festivals,  328;  The  Feast  of  Pentecost,  328;  The 

Feast  of  Tabernacles,  329  ;  The  great  day  of  Atonement,  331 ; 

Sacred  Edifices  and  Apparatus,  334  ; 

The  Sacred  Orders,  335 ;  Present  value  of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  336 ;  Its 

lessons  on  the  blood  of  atonement,  338 ;  That  these  lessons  arc  steps 

of  progress  in  the  revelation  of  God  to  men,  340. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

HisTOKic  Events  of  Hebkew  History  from  Sinai  to  the  Jor- 
dan, 342; 
The  golden  calf,  342 ;  The  intercession  of  Moses,  344 ;  The  Lord  re- 
veals his  name  and  glory,  346;  Incidents  connected  with  this  idol- 
worship,  350;  Lessons  from  Moses  on  prayer,  a53;  Taberah  and 
Kibroth-hataavah,354  ;  Miriam  and  Aaron  envious  of  Mosos,  355; 
Kadesh-barnea  and  the  unbelieving  spies,  356 ;  Rebellion  of  Korah 
and  his  company,  360;  The  fiery  serpent  and  the  brazen  one,  363; 
Balak  and  Balaam,  361;  Balaam's  prophecies,  307;  His  prayer, 
308. 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

On  the  last  Fouk  Books  of  the  Pentatetch: 

Their  method  and  subject-matter,  375 ;  Leviticus,  376 ;  Numbers,  37fi ; 

Deuterouomy,  377;  Deut.  26,  378;  The  prophet  like  Moses,  Deut.  18, 

3.SU;  The  blessings  and  the  curses,  383;  The  last  words  of  Moses, 

38-1;  Deut.  32,  385;  Moses  blesses  the  tribes,  Deut.  33,  394;  Death 

and  character  of  Moses,  401 ; 

The  Mosaic  system  and  the  future  life,  403  ; 

Progressive  developments  of  truth  and  of  God,  412. 


INTEODUCTIOI^. 


THE   REVELATIONS   OF   GOD   TO   MEN   PROGRESSIVE. 

It  is  supposable  that  God  might  have  made  his  entire 
Tvriitten  revelation  of  himself  to  men  at  once,  through  one 
inspired  prophet  and  one  only ;  in  one  definite  locality 
(Eden  or  Jerusalem),  and  all  brought  within  a  twelve- 
month. But  he  did  not  deem  this  the  wisest  way.  He 
preferred  to  speak  at  considerable  intervals  of  time — 
through  a  long  succession  of  "  holy  men  of  old  ; "  "  at 
sundry  times  and  in  diverse  manners "  (Heb.  i :  1). 
Among  the  choice  results  of  this  progressive  method 
we  may  name  the  following :  (1.)  That  by  means  of  it 
God  made  large  and  admirable  use  of  history.  This  was 
revealing  himself  to  men,  not  simply  by  his  words  but 
by  his  works.  In  ways  which  men  could  not  well  mis- 
take, he  was  thus  able  to  manifest  himself  as  the  God 
of  nations;  also  as  the  God  of  families;  and  not  least, 
as  the  God  of  individual  men.  It  was  vital  to  human 
welfare  that  he  should  place  himself  before  men  as 
being  not  a  heathen  Brumha,  sunk  in  unconscious 
sleep  for  ages,  but  as  the  All-seeing,  ever-active  One, 
exercising  a  real  government  over  men,  ruling  in 
equity  and  yet  with  loving-kindness;  ever  present  amid 
all  their  activities  and  impressing  himself  upon  the 
thought  and  the  heart  of  the  race.  In  this  line  of 
policy  how  admirably  did  he  give  promises  to  his  serv- 
ants to  inspire  their  faith  in  himself;  then  prove  that 
faith  through  years  and  ages  of  trial  and  delay;  but  at 
last  confirm   his  word   by  its   signal   fulfillment!     By 

(1) 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

what  other  method  could  He  so  effectually  reveal  him- 
self as  a  personal  God — the  personal  Friend  of  his  trustful 
children — evermore  worthy  of  their  supreme  confidence, 
whether  they  could  or  could  not  see  at  once  all  the  rea- 
sons of  his  waj^s  ? 

His  providential  rule  over  nations  as  such  found  in 
this  method  ample  scope  for  the  fullest  illustration, 
The  record  of  this  ruling  in  the  ministrations  of  pros- 
perity and  adversity;  in  the  rise  and  the  ruin  of  great 
nations  through  the  lapse  of  the  world's  early  centuries, 
constitute  a  marvelously  rich  portion  of  this  progress- 
ive revelation  of  God  to  man. A  Bible  made  up  of 

words  from  God  without  any  deeds  of  God  would  be  open 
to  dangerous  misunderstanding  and  thus  might  in  great 
measure  fail  of  its  purpose.  At  best  it  would  be  tame 
and  unimpressive  compared  with  the  method  God  has 
chosen  of  revealing  himself  largely  in  actual  works  at 
innumerable  points  along  the  ages  for  more  than  four 
thousand  years. 

(2.)  Again ;  no  small  gain  accrued  from  the  large 
number  and  various  qualities  of  the  holy  men  through 
whom  God  spake.  The  personal  blessing  to  themselves 
was  too  rich  to  be  limited  to  any  one  man.  Eather  let 
it  be  shared  by  many  scores  of  men,  standing  forth  be- 
fore their   respective  generations   age   after   age   from 

Adam  down  to  him  of  Patmos. We  may  also  note  the 

large  range  of  diversity  in  their  personal  character  and 
in  their  endowments  as  authors.  How  varied  were  the 
circumstances  of  their  lives  and  the  moral  trials  which 
were  the  refiner's  fire  to  their  spiritual  life !  How 
abundantly  by  this  means  did  their  personal  experi- 
ences illustrate  the  ways  of  God  with  those  who  come 
nearest  to  him  in  the  fullness  of  heart  communion  I 
How  many  chapters  are  thus  provided  of  the  most  re- 
liable most  varied  and  easily  applied  Christian  experi- 
ence ! 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

By  means  of  the  diversity  of  inspired  writers,  the 
Bible  is  enriched  with  tlie  charms  of  a  large  variety  in 
style,  as  Avell  as  in  the  experiences  of  the  Christian 
life.  Among  all  the  sacred  penmen,  no  two  minds  are 
cast  in  the  same  mold.  Poetry,  eloquence,  imagination, 
logic,  sublimity,  pathos — in  what  endless  combinations 
do  we  find  these  gifts  apportioned  and  manifested! 
How  should  we  admire  the  wisdom  which  chose  out 
men  of  gifts  so  diversified,  and  then  adopted  a  method 
of  inspiration  which  left  each  writer's  mind  to  the  un- 
restrained development  of  its  own  peculiar  genius. 

(3.)  Yet  farther;  the  progressive  historical  method 
of  making  up  the  Bible  opened  the  door  widely  for  mir- 
acles and  prophecy.  The  occasions  for  miracles  were 
multiplied.  They  could  be  introduced  naturally  where 
manifold  and  not  single  results  should  accrue.  In  this 
way  there  was  no  need  to  manufacture  opportunities 
for  miraculous  interposition.  Abundant  occasions  arose 
to  demand  them,  when  consequently  they  had  a  most 
thrilling  effect.  We  may  see  this  in  the  scenes  of  the 
Exodus,  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  the  rescue  of  Hezekiah 
and  his  people. 

So  also  of  prophecy.  It  asks  for  time.  On  the  sup- 
position that  the  fulfdlment  is  to  appear  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, an  interval  of  some  duration  must  come  between 
the  utterance  and  the  fulfillment.  It  was  also  Avise 
that  prophecy  should  subserve  the  sujieradded  purpose 
of  spiritual  comfort  to  God's  people  during  the  ages 
between  comparative  darkness  and  forth-breaking  light. 
In  fact  it  gave  to  God's  people  the  first  single  beams  of 
morning  twilight,  bearing  the  grateful  assurance  that 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  would  surely  rise  on  the 
nations  in  the  fullness  of  gospel  times. 

(4.)  Still  again;  by  this  method  of  making  up  in- 
spired history  it  is  placed  side  by  side  with  profane 
history  and  the  most  ancient  monuments  of  the  race, 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

and  thus  invites  investigation  on  the  point  of  its  truth- 
fulness. Is  this  progressive  history  of  God's  Avays 
toward  men  confirmed  by  whatever  reliable  history  of 
the  same  period  has  come  down  to  us  through  other 
sources?  This  point  well  deserves  and  richly  rewards 
a  careful  examination. 

(5.)  Moreover,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  God  would 
commence  his  revelation  of  himself  to  our  race  in  the 
very  infancy  of  their  existence.  The  Bible  shows  us 
that  he  did.  Assuming  that  at  this  point  they  had 
every  thing  to  learn,  we  ought  to  expect  that  their  first 
Bible  lessons  would  turn  their  thought  to  the  great 
truths  of  natural  religion — the  manifestations  of  God  in 
his  worlis  of  creation  and  providence.  In  harmony  with 
this  reasonable  expectation,  we  read — "In  the  begin- 
ning God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  In  that 
opening  chapter  of  revelation,  God  said,  "Let  there  be 
light,"  and  it  was;  also  "a  firmament"  above,  and  it 
was;  "Let  the  dry  land  appear,"  and  it  aj^peared;  "let 
there  be  light-bearers  in  the  heavens,"  and  they  shine 
forth ;  let  grass  and  herbs  grow ;  let  creatures  live  in 
the  waters,  in  the  air,  and  on  the  dry  land,  and  it  was 
so;  and  finally,  "let  us  make  man,'"  far  unlike  all  the 
rest — "incur  own  image  and  likeness" — and  god-like 
man  sprang  into  being.  So  onward  the  narrative  wit- 
nesses to  the  ever-present  hand  of  God  in  the  mists,  the 
rains,  and  the  teeming  vegetation  of  the  new-made 
M'orld.  God,  the  great  Author  of  nature;  God  in 
nature  and  evermore  over  all  nature,  was  the  first  les- 
son recorded  in  God's  revelation  of  himself  to  men. 

In  natural  order,  the  next  lesson  like  this,  is  God  in 
providence — God  administering  the  agencies  of  earthly 
good  or  ill,  making  his  presence  manifest  among  his 
intelligent  and  moral  offspring,  and  even  "coming 
do\yn  to  see"  (as  the  early  record  has  it)  Avhat  men 
were  doing  and  whether  the  cry  coming  up  to  him  told 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

truthfully  of  the  guilty  violence  perpetrated  by  man 
upon  his  fellows.  This  idea — God  ruling  over  the  race 
in  righteous  retribution  for  their  good  or  evil  deeds — 
was  obviously  one  of  the  first  great  moral  lessons  to  be 
illustrated,  enforced,  impressed.  So  vital  is  this  con- 
viction to  the  ends  of  a  moral  government  that  it 
should  not  surprise  us  if  the  actual  administration  of 
present  rewards  and  punishments  in  the  common 
course  of  human  life  in  this  world  should  be  made  far 
more  prominent  and  palpable  in  the  early  than  in  the 
later  ages  of  the  race,  so  much  so  as  to  force  itself  upon 
the  dullest  eyes  and  compel  the  attention  of  the  most 

stupid  and  reluctant  observers. Such  (we  shall  have 

occasion  to  notice)  was  unquestionably  the  divine 
policy  throughout  the  earlier  stages  of  human  history, 
abundantly  apparent  in  the  records  of  the  Bible.  In 
later  times,  the  exigencies  of  a  system  of  probation,  and 
especially  the  importance  of  giving  large  scope  to  faith, 
after  sufficient  evidence  has  been  afforded,  served  to 
impose  narrower  limits  upon  present  retribution,  re- 
serving the  larger  share  to  the  perfect  adjustments  of 
the  great  future.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  human  his- 
tory, it  would  obviously  be  vital  to  give  men  sufficient 
demonstration  that  God  does  rule,  and  therefore  is  to  be 
believed  when  he  threatens  to  punish  either  here  or 
hereafter,  and  consequently  is  evermore  to  be  feared  as 
the  certain  avenger  of  crime.  Hence  the  imperative 
need  in  those  early  ages  of  such  manifestations  of  God's 
justice  as  would  impress  the  fear  of  his  name.  With 
our  eye  open  to  the  native  pride  of  depraved  souls  and 
to  their  appalling  tendency  to  disown  God  and  bid  him 
"depart"  and  not  trouble  them  with  his  "ways,"  it  will 
not  surprise  us  that  God  should  shape  his  earliest 
agencies  of  providence  to  inspire  fear  rather  than  love. 
It  needs  but  the  least  thought  to  see  that  this  policy 
was  a  simple  necessity — the  most  obvious  dictate  of 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

wisdom.  In  this  point  revelation  might  naturally  be 
•progressive^  advancing  as  soon  as  was  safe  and  wdse  from 
manifestations  inspiring  fear  to  those  which  would  re- 
veal his  love. 

The  doctrine  of  divine  providence  in  regard  to  the 
sufferings  of  good  men— one  of  the  hardest  problems  of 
human  life — might  be  expected  to  unfold  itself  gradu- 
ally. It  would  be  quite  too  much  for  the  infancy  of 
human  thought  and  knowledge  to  grasp  this  problem 
and  master  all  its  intricacies.  Hence  the  scope  for  a 
gradual  unfolding  (as  we  may  see)  all  the  way  from  the 
discussions  in  Job  and  the  Psalms  to  the  clearer  light 
which  shines  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  as  also  in 
Peter  and  Paul.  This  beautiful  illustration  of  progress 
in  divine  revelation  wall  well  reward  attention  in  its 
place. 

(6.)  On  the  supposition  that  God's  scheme  for  the 
recovery  of  our  lost  race  contemplated  some  atonement 
for  sin— a  provision  in  its  very  nature  and  relations 
toward  both  God  and  man  exceedingly  delicate  and 
critical — it  is  at  least  presumable  beforehand  that  God 
would  bring  out  this  idea  ivith  great  care — wdth  the 
wisest  precaution  against  misconception,  and  not  im- 
probably with  some  foregoing  illustrations  of  its  signifi- 
cance and  of  its  intended  application.  Precisely  this 
we  see  in  the  great  sacrificial  system  of  the  Mosaic 
economy.  We  only  put  essentially  the  same  idea  into 
other  and  more  general  terms  when  we  say  that  a,  j^ro- 
tracted  course  of  successive  revelations  provides  for 
making  an  antecedent  economy  pave  the  way  for  a  sub- 
sequent one — a  first  revelation  preparatory  to  a  second — 
one  set  of  ideas  imprinted  and  impressed  upon  the 
Imman  mind,  made  conducive  to  other  and  higher  rev- 
elations yet  to  follow.  The  wisdom  of  such  pro- 
gressions can  not  fail  to  impress  itself  upon  all 
tlioughtful  minds. Thus  God's   revelations  of  hiui- 


INTEODUCT.ION.  7 

Belf  from  age  to  age  were  adjusted  to  the  advance  in 
spiritual  development  which  he  had  provided  for  in 
the  human  mind.  As  training  and  culture  developed 
higher  capacities,  new  lessons  were  in  order  and  higher 
attainments  were  made.  *' Whoso  is  wise  and  will 
observe  these  things,  even  they  shall  understand"  the 
loving-kindness  and  matchless  wisdom  of  the  Lord. 

To  forestall  misapprehensions  (possible  and  some- 
times actual),  let  it  be  noted  that  progress  in  the  re- 
Aealed  science  of  God  by  no  means  supersedes  what  has 
gone  before.  Naturally  it  only  serves  to  place  old 
truths  in  new  and  richer  light.  No  one  fact  affirmed 
concerning  God  in  the  earlier  ages  is  denied  in  the 
later.  Certain  features  of  his  character  may  be  brought 
out  more  prominently  in  the  later  lessons,  but  there  is 
no  unsaying  of  the  things  said  before.  Nothing  can 
conflict  with  this  axiom  of  divine  science — "I  am  the 
Lord;  I  change  not."  Prominence  may  be  given  in  the 
early  ages  to  such  manifestations  as  impress  men  with 
fear  and  as  set  forth  God's  righteous  justice  toward 
transgressors;  Avhile  later  revelations  may  disclose 
more  fully  the  depths  of  divine  love  and  compassion. 
Yet  let  none  infer  that  God  is  less  just  in  the  New 
Testament  than  in  the  Old,  or  that  the  earlier  policy 
of  God's  throne  has  been  modified  to  a  larger  leniency 
toward  persistent  criminals.  The  men  Avho  flippantly 
talk  of  throwing  aside  the  older  revelation  "as  they  do 
an  old  almanac"  mistake  most  egregiously.  God  has 
written  nothing  to  be  thrown  aside.  The  oldest  records 
still  give  us  lessons  of  God  shining  with  unfading  fresh- 
ness and  undimmed  glory.  The  statutes  binding  on 
Tsrq,el  in  the  wilderness  and  in  Canaan  may  not  be  in 
the  same  sense  binding  on  our  age,  but  they  have  not 
for  this  reason  become  valueless.  They  made  revela- 
tions of  God  then,  truthful  and  rich ;  they  make  revela- 
tions of  God  still  which  it  were  but  small  indication  of 
wisdom  or  fi;ood  ^cnsc  to  ignore. 


CHAPTER    I. 


CEEATION. 


Fitly  the  written  word  of  God  to  the  race  begins 
with  the  creation.  In  every  reflecting  mind  the  first  in- 
quiry must  be  this:  Whence  am  I?  Whence  came  my 
being — this  wonderful  existence;  these  active  powers? 
It  must  be  that  I  am  indebted  for  all  these  gifts  to 
some  higher  Being;  how  earnestly  then  do  I  ask — To 

whom? No  other  question  can  claim  priority  to  this. 

Every  thing  in  its  nature  and  relations  gives  it  pre- 
cedence above  all  other  questions.  Inasmuch  as  my 
reason  affirms  to  me  that  I  owe  my  existence  to  some 
great  Maker,  I  feel  that  I  must  know  Him  and  must 
know  my  responsibilities  to  Him.  I  need  to  learn  also 
how  the  further  question — my  future  destiny — may 
link  itself  with  my  relations  to  Him  who  brought  me 
into  being. 

Of  secondary  yet  similar  interest  are  the  correspond- 
ing questions  as  to  the  world  we  live  in.  Who  made 
it?  Does  its  Maker  hold  it  under  his  own  control? 
Does  He  still  operate  its  forces  and  wield  its  agencies  ? 
Have  I  any  obligations  and  duties  toward  Him  who 
made  the  earth  and  all  that  is  therein?  Verily  I  must 
assume  that  if  there  be  a  God,  at  once  Creator  and  Up- 
holder of  the  earth  and  Father  of  his  rational  offspring, 
his  written  word  will  hasten  to  throw  light  on  the  oth- 
erwise dark  minds  of  his  children — will  let  them  know 
that  "  in  the  beginning  God  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  "  and  man. 

The  moral  lessons  oi  this  great  fact — God  our  Creator — 
are  forcibly  brought  out  in  later  scriptures.     Listen  to 

the  Psalmist :  "  0  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord 

for  he  is  a  great  God  and  a  great  King  above  all  gods. 
In  his  hands  are  the  deep  places  of  the  earth;  the 
strength  of  the  hills  is  his  also.  The  sea  is  his  and  he 
made  it,  and  his  hands  formed  the  dry  land.    0  come, 

(9) 


10  CREATION. 

let  us  worship  and  bow  down;  let  us  kneel  before  the 
liord  our  Maker,  for  he  is  our  God  and  we  are  the  people 
of  his  pasture  and  the  sheep  of  his  hand."  (Ps.  95  : 
1-7.)  Note  also  the  blended  sublimity  and  beauty  of 
David's  appeal:  "  Praise  the  Lord;  sing  unto  him  a  new 
song,  for  the  earth  is  full  of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord. 
By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made  and  all 
the  host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth.  He  gath- 
ereth  the  waters  of  the  sea  together  as  an  heap;  he 
layeth  up  the  depth  in  store-houses.  Let  all  the  earth 
fear  the  Lord ;  let  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  stand  in 
awe  of  him,  for  he  spake  and  it  was :  he  commanded, 
and  it  stood  fast."  (Ps._  33 :  1-9.)  Still  higher  if  pos- 
sible rises  the  lofty  strain  of  Isaiah  when  he  would  set 
forth  the  unequalled  power  of  the  great  Creator  as  the 
Refuge  and  Salvation  of  his  trustful  children: — "Who 
hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand 
and  meted  out  heaven  with  a  span,  and  comprehended 
the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure,  and  weighed  the 
mountains  in  scales  and  the  hills  in  a  balance?  To 
whom  then   will  ye   liken  God"?  etc.     (Isa.  40:  12, 

18). So  when  Job  had  indulged  himself  too  far  in 

questioning  the  ways  of  God  in  providence,  the  Lord 
replied  out  of  the  whirlwind,  demanding  of  him — 
"Where  wert  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
earth  ?  Declare  if  thou  hast  understanding.  Who  hath 
laid  the  measures  thereof  if  thou  knowest — who  hath 
stretched  the  line  upon  it?  Whereupon  were  the 
foundations  thereof  fjistened,  or  who  laid  the  corner- 
stone thereof  when  the  morning  stars  sang  together 

and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  " ? "Canst 

thou  lift  up  thy  voice  to  the  clouds  that  abundance  of 
waters  may  cover  thee?  Canst  thou  send  lightnings 
that  they  may  go  and  say  unto  thee,  Here  are  we"? 
(Job  38 :  4-7,  34,  35.) 

In  that  great  conflict  of  ages  against  idolatry,  the  one 
final  appeal  was  Avont  to  be  made  to  this  great  fact  of 
God's  Creatorship.     We  have  examples  in  Ps.  115 :  2-8 

and  Jer  10:  1-16  and  elsewhere, Thus  throughout 

the  sacred  word  this  great  fact  that  God  is  our  Creator, 
involving  the  whole  sphere  of  God  in  nature,  stands  as 
the  first  witness  to  his  true  divinity,  the  first  proof  that 
in  him  we  live  and  have  our  beinj? — the  ground  of  the 


ITS   MORAL   LESSONS.  11 

first  claim  upon  us  for  supreme  homage,  worship,  trust, 
love  and  obedience.  The  first  lessons  taught  in  Eden 
were  taken  from  this  great  and  open  volume  of  natural 
religion.  The  first  lessons  which  God's  people  were  to 
place  before  the  heathen  in  their  mission  work  of  the 
early  ages  were  drawn  from  the  visible  Avorlds  and  from 
their  testimony  to  the  Great  Creator.  These  manifesta- 
tions are  the  alphabet  of  God;  the  point  therefore  from 
which  progressive  revelations  begin. 

Noticeably  the  record  of  the  creation  (Gen.  1  and  2) 
rests  not  with  simply  giving  the  general  statement 
that  God  made  all  things,  but  enters  somewhat  into  the 
particulars,  reciting  in  certain  points  the  steps  of  the  proc- 
ess and  the  order  of  its  details.  First  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  had  a  beginning  and  this  beginning  was  from 
God.  At  some  stage  in  the  process,  perhajis  the  next 
in  order  after  the  heavens  and  the  earth  could  be  said 
to  be,  the  earth  was  chaotic,  i.  e.  formless  and  desolate ; 
then  God  brought  forth  light;  then  to  clear  the  atmos- 
phere somewhat  of  mists  and  vapors,  he  caused  some  of 
its  waters  to  rise  into  the  expanse,  and  some  to  descend 
to  the  earth  below;  then  gathered  the  waters  below  into 
seas,  leaving  portions  of  the  earth's  surface  dry  land. 
Then  he  brought  forth  grass  and  herbage;  next,  the 
light-bearers  in  the  heavens  appeared — the  sun,  moon 
and  stars ;  then  came  into  being  fish,  reptiles  and  fowl ; 
and  on  the  sixth  day  land  animals  and  man.  Thus  in 
six  successive  periods  of  time,  through  steps  of  grada- 
tion easily  traced  by  the  witnessing  "sons  of  God"  (Job 
38 :  7),  the  processes  of  this  creative  work  Avere  finished. 
The  Great  Father  would  have  his  first-born  unfallen 
"sons"  as  well  as  his  later-born  and  redeemed  children 
enjoy  these  works  of  his  creative  hand,  and  therefore  he 
developed  them  slowly  and  in  the  order  of  naturally 
successive  steps  that  they  might  see  that  all  Avas  truly 
"  good,"  "  very  good." 

Partly  because  of  advances  made  within  recent  times 
in  physical  science,  partly  because  of  speculations  not 
always  friendly  in  tone  to  the  inspired  record,  and 
partly  because  of  the  intrinsic  interest  and  importance 
of  the  subject,  some  special  points  in  this  narrative  de- 
mand very  particular  attention. 


12     creation:  of  the  record  and  its  revelation. 

1.  Tlie  origin  of  the  ivritten  record  and  the  manner  of  its 
revelation  to  men. 

The  entire  book  of  Genesis  is  ascribed  to  Moses  on 
most  valid  grounds;  whether  as  compiler  only  or  as 

original  author,  is,  therefore,  the  first  question. 1  do 

not  see  how  this  point  can  be  determined  with  absolute 
certainty.  The  probabilities  in  my  view  favor  the  sup- 
position of  previously  written  documents,  these  proba- 
bilities arising,  not  to  any  considerable  extent  from 
manifest  differences  of  style  in  its  various  portions,  and 
not  at  all  from  diversities  in  the  use  of  the  names  of 
God,  Jehovah  and  Elohim ;  but  mainly  from  the  strong 
presumption  that  such  genealogical  records  as  abound 
in  Genesis,  coupled  so  largely  with  numbers,  would  be 
put  in  writing  before  the  age  of  Moses.  Men  who  had 
the  knowledge  of  writing  would  certainly  appreciate  its 

utility  for  the  preservation  of  such  facts  as  these. 

And  further;  the  very  use  of  the  word  "generations"* 
(Gen.  2 :  4)  in  the  sense  of  history,  and  much  more  still 
the  statement  (Gen.  5 :  1),  "  This  is  the  book  of  the  gen- 
erations of  Adam,"   raise  this  presumption  nearly  or 

quite  to  a  certainty. In  making  up  the  historical 

portions  of  the  Scriptures  it  seems  rational  to  assume 
that  the  Lord  moved  "  holy  men  of  old "  to  put  in 
Avriting  such  facts  falling  under  their  personal  observa- 
tion and  immediate  knowledge  as  he  deemed  useful  for 
these  sacred  records.  In  some  cases  the  writer  might 
be  (as  was  Luke)  just  one  remove  from  the  original  eye- 
witnesses, yet  in  a  position  to  learn  the  facts  with 
"  perfect  understanding  "  and  "  certainty."  We  should 
not  doubt  the  power  of  God  to  give  to  holy  men  these 
historic  facts  by  immediate  revelation ;  but  the  question 
is  not  one  of  power,  but  of  wisdom,  of  divine  policy,  and 
of  fact.  The  divine  policy  seems  to  have  been  (in  this 
case  as  in  miracles)  never  to  introduce  the  supernat- 
ural, the  miraculous,  to  do  what  the  natural  might  ac- 
complish equally  well.  On  this  principle  inspired  men 
were  moved  of  God  to  use  their  own  eyes  and  minds  in 
writing  Scripture  history  in  all  cases  when  the  facts 
came  within  their  certain  knowledge.  There  were 
facts,  like  these  of  the  creation,  which  fell  under  no  hu- 
man eye,  and  which  therefore  do  not  come  under  tliis 


CREATION  :  OF  THE  RECORD  AND  ITS  REVELATION.      13 

principle.  Some  form  of  direct  revcLation  from  God  is, 
therefore,  to  be  assumed  here.  Though  the  supposition 
of  a  revealing  angel  might  find  some  support  from  sub- 
sequent prophetic  Scriptures,  yet  a  direct  revelation 
from  God  to  some  inspired  writer  is  the  more  obvious 

supposition. It  has  been  asked — "Was  this  creation 

in  its  processes  and  announcements  shown  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  prophetic  vision — the  writer  then  record- 
ing in  his  own  phrase  what  he  saw  and  heard? 

There  being  no  testimony  on  this  point  from  either  of 
the  two  parties — the  divine  Revealer  or  the  human 
writer — we  must  leave  it  undecided.     Fortunately  it  is 

of  no  particular  importance  to  us. It  is,  however,  of 

some  importance  that  we  consider  the  question  whether 
in  this  account  of  the  creation  we  are  to  look  for  state- 
ments adjusted  to  science — not  merely  to  the  stage  of  its 
progress  in  this  present  year  of  the  nineteeth  century, 
but  to  the  perfect  science  of  ultimate  fact;  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  for  statements  adapted  to  the  average  mind 
of  Hebrew  readers  in  the  age  of  Moses,  written  for  their 
comprehension,  instruction  and  spiritual  culture.  I 
answer  unhesitatinglj^,  the  latter.    "All  Scripture,  given 

by  inspiration  of  God,  is  profitable  for  doctrine 

and  for  instruction  in  righteousness"  (2  Tim.  3:  IG), 

and  was  of  God  designed  and  shaped  for  these  ends. 

Yet  let  it  be  borne  in  mind;  these  statements  respect- 
ing the  processes  of  creation,  being  in  the  sense  in- 
tended, actually  true,  will  not  conflict  with  any  true 
science.  They  may  omit  processes  which  human  analy- 
sis and  research  may  render  probable,  passing  them  as 
not  germain  to  the  scope  of  a  moral  revelation  and  as 
not  likely  to  be  intelligible  to  the  masses  of  man- 
kind.  Finally — that  the  assumed  stand-point  of  view 

from  which  these  processes  of  creation  are  contemplated 
is  on  this  earth  and  not  elsewhere  in  the  universe  is 
certain  from  the  fact  that  it  was  written  to  be  read  and 
understood  by  men  and  not  by  angels.  Hence  we  must 
expect  the  facts  to  be  presented  as  they  would  have  ap- 
peared to  a  suj)posed  observer  upon  our  globe. 

2.  What  is  the  true  idea  of  nature,  and  ichat  the  line 
between  nature  and  the  supernatural  f 

A  reference  to  familiar  facts  will  best  set  forth  the 
case.  Thus;  it  is  in  and  by  nature  that  at  a  certain 
temperature  water  becomes  vapor;  at  another  tempera- 


1-4      creation:  nature  and  the  supernatural. 

ture,  ice;  that  vapor  rises  in  the  atmosphere,  water 
runs  downward,  and  ice  abides  under  the  kiws  of  solids. 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  oiot  in  nature  that  water  in  any 
of  its  forms  creates  itself.     Its  elements  can  not  begin 

to  be,  save  by  some  power  above  nature. Again,  by 

nature  plants  and  animals  reproduce  their  kind,  but 
never  can  of  themselves  begin  their  own  existence. 
Hence  some  of  the  processes  brought  before  us  in  this 
record  of  creation  come  under  the  head  of  nature; 
others  are  as  obviously  supernatural — from  the  imme- 
diate hand  of  God.  The  work  of  the  second  day — the 
mists  of  the  atmosphere,  in  part  ascending  in  vapor,  in 
part  precipitated  upon  the  earth  in  water — seems  to 
have  followed  natural  law.  In  the  work  of  the  third, 
the  waters  on  higher  portions  of  the  earth's  surface 
subsiding  into  the  seas,  follow  the  law  of  flowing 
water.  But  the  original  creation  of  matter  and  the 
beginnings  of  life,  both  vegetable  and  animal,  must 
have  been  supernatural — from  the  immediate  fiat  of 
the  Almighty. 

This  point  would  scarcely  need  special  definition 
had  not  extreme  views  been  put  forth  in  our  times;  as 
(e.  g.)  that  nature  is  virtually  a  second-rate  deity — 
indebted  to  God,  indeed,  for  the  original  gift  of  its 
powers,  but  thenceforward  working  those  powers  inde- 
pendently of  God — made  to  run  without  God  after  he 
has  once  wound  it  up  as  the  mechanic  makes  and  winds 
up  his  Avatch.  But  the  Scriptures  recognize  no  such 
semi-deification  of  nature.  According  to  their  teach- 
ing, God  still  "upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of  his 
power"  (Heb.  1:  3);  "By  him  all  things  consist" 
(Col.  1 :  17) — i.  e.,  are  maintained  in  their  existence — ■ 
are  held  to  system  and  order  under  natural  law.  It  is 
precisely  God  himself  who  gives  or  withholds  the  rain; 
who  calls  to  the  lightnings  and  they  answer,  "Here 
we  are" — (.Job  38 :  35)  ;  and  it  is  none  the  less  God  who 
wields  these  agencies  because  he  does  it  in  harmony 
with  principles  which  are  just  as  fixed  as  he  pleases  to 
have  them.  Therefore  true  science  will  take  no  excep- 
tion to  the  doctrine  that  nature  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  God's  established  mode  of '  operation.  We  may  call 
these  modes  of  operations  "laws"  or  "powers,"  and  may 
think  and  speak  of  them  as  constituting  "Nature  ;"  but 
if  we  come  to  regard  Nature  as  a  maker  and  a  doer, 


ceeation:    on  the  oiacix  of  life.  15 

working  independently  of  God,  we  have  (inadvertently 
perhaps,  but  none  the  less  really)  ruled  God  out  of  his 
own  universe.  Both  Scripture  and  reason  hold  that 
"  ill  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  (Acts 
17 :  28.)  The  broad  fact  that  God's  intelligent  creat- 
ures must  live  in  this  material  world  and  be  constantly 
acting  upon  matter  and  acted  upon  by  matter,  sug- 
gests abundant  reasons  why  God  should  ordain  fixed 
laws  for  the  changes  and  states  of  all  material  things. 
But  why  should  we  think  of  God's  hand  as  any  the 
less  present  in  all  these  changes  of  material  states  and 
forms  because  they  follow  fixed  and  ascertainable  laws? 
In  truth  the  divine  wisdom  is  only  the  more  abun- 
dantly manifested  by  means  of  this  reliable  uniformity. 

Another  doctrine  yet  more  extreme  severs  all  con- 
nection between  nature  and  an  intelligent  Power  above 
and  over  her,  and  thus  makes  her  supreme  in  her 
domain.     This  is  so  far  Atheism — ruling  God  out  from 

at  least  the.  entire  material  universe. Yet,  again; 

to  make  nature  herself  intelligent — to  ascribe  to  nature 
whatever  traces  of  design  appear  iu  her  operations, 
and  to  hold  that  nature  is  herself  the  universe,  undis- 
tinguishable  from  any  higher  spiritual  power,  is  Pan- 
theism.  It  is  therefore   important  to  define  nature 

so  that  her  true  relations  to  the  Supreme  Intelligence — 
the  very  God — Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe — shall 
be  distinctly  seen  and  reverently  recognized. 

Tlie  advocates  of  extreme  naturalism  have  labored 
faithfully  to  verify  their  doctrine  by  experiment. 
They  have  put  Nature  to  task — not  to  say  torture — to 
compel  her  to  originate  life.  Pushing  their  chemical 
analysis  of  those  forms  of  matter  in  which  life  is 
thought  specially  to  reside,  they  flatter  themselves  that 
they  have  at  last  got  their  hands  on  the  very  elements 
which,  brought  together,  make  life,  viz,  carbonic  acid, 
ammonia,  and  water,  chemically  combined.  To  this 
compound  they  give  the  name,  "  protoplasm."  They 
have  found,  they  say,  that  where  life  is  there  is  prjoto- 
plasm,  its  home  and  dwelling-place  at  least;  and  that 
life  never  appears  lodging  in  any  other  home.  They 
can  not  see  that  the  presence  of  life  adds  any  thing  to 
this  com])Ound,  or  that  its  absence  takes  any  thii)g 
away.  Therefore  they  are  sure  they  have  found  what 
makes  life. 

2 


16  creation:   on  the  word  "dxVy." 

Now  the  skillful  chemist  in  his  laboratory  has  not 
the  least  difficulty  in  providing  himself  with  carbonic 
acid,  ammonia,  and  water.  Why  then  does  he  not 
evolve  the  long-sought-for  life-force  and  prove  his  doc- 
trine, past  all  doubt  ?  Let  him  bring  out  new  beings, 
new  forms  of  life,  vegetable  or  animal  or  both,  in  am- 
ple diversity,  for  the  range  is  unlimited.  Let  his  lab- 
oratory push  forth  into  being  such  troops  of  offspring 
as  will  forever  confound  gainsayers  and  prove  that 
Nature,  properly  manipulated,  is  equal  to  the  produc- 
tion of  life-forces  in  endless  variety  and  abundance. 

Have  any  modern  scientists  done  this?  Not  yet. 
Have  they  made  any  approximation  toward  it?  Mr. 
Huxley  thinks  he  has  come  so  near  to  it  that  if  he 
could  only  have  at  his  service  the  favorable  conditions 
of  the  very  earliest  state  of  matter,  he  should  succeed. 
*'  If  it  were  given  me  (says  he)  to  look  beyond  the 
abyss  of  geologically-recorded  time  to  the  still  more 
remote  period  when  the  earth  was  passing  through 
physical  and  chemical  conditions  which  it  can  no  more 
see  again  than  a  man  can  recall  his  infancy,  I  should 
expect  to  he  a  witness  of  the  evolution  of  living  j^rotoplasm  fi'om 
not  living  matter.  That  is  the  expectation  to  which  ana- 
logical reasoning  leads  me."  * "  Not  living  matter 

evolving  living  protoplasm "  means  that  matter  itself, 
dead  matter,  begets  real  life.  Nature  Avould  thus  be- 
come herself  a  creator,  exercising  the  most  decisive 
functions  of  the  Infinite  God.  Mr.  Huxley  can  not 
make  Nature  do  this  exploit  in  the  present  state  of  this 
world  or  of  the  universe ;  but  he  fully  believes  there 
was  a  time  when  he  should  have  seen  it  if  he  had  been 
there !  This  is  his  proof  of  the  new  doctrine.  He  will 
not  presume  to  "  call  it  any  thing  but  an  act  of  philo- 
sophic faith." 

3.  The  sense  of  the  loord  ^^day''  as  used  in  Gen.  I.  of  the 
six  days  of  creation. 

To  simplify  the  subject  I  make  the  single  issue — Is 
it  a  period  of  twenty-four  hours,  or  a  period  of  special 
character,  indefinitely  long?  The  latter  theory  sup- 
poses the  word  to  refer  here  not  so  much  to  duration  as 
to  special  character — the  sort  of  work  done  and  the 
changes  produced  during  the  period  contemplated. 

*Lay  sermons  on  spontaneous  generation;  pp.  3G4-366. 


creation:  on  the  word  "day."  17 

Turnina;  our  attention  to  this  latter  theory,  we  raise 
three  leading  inquiries : 

(1.)  Do  the  laws  of  language  and,  specially,  docs  the 
usage  of  the  word  "day"  permit  it? 

(2.)  Apart  from  the  bearing  of  geological  facts,  are 
there  points  in  the  narrative  itself  which  demand  or 
even  favor  this  sense  of  the  word? 

(3.)  What  are  the  geological  facts  bearing  on  this 
question,  and  what  weight  may  legitimately  be  accorded 
to  them  ? 

(1.)  Beyond  all  question  the  word  "day"  is  used 
abundantly,  (and  therefore  admits  of  being  used)  to 
denote  a  period  of  special  character,  with  no  particular 
reference  to  its  duration.  We  have  a  case  in  this  im- 
mediate connection  (Gen.  2 :  4),  where  it  is  used  of  the 
whole  creative  period :  "  In  the  day  that  the  Lord  God 
made  the  earth  and  the  heavens."  Under  the  same 
usage  we  have  "  the  day  of  the  Lord  (1  Thess.  5  :  2)  for 
the  day  of  judgment ;  "  the  day  of  God,"  in  the  same 
sense  (2  Pet.  Z\  12) ;  "the  day  of  salvation"  (2  Cor.  6: 
2) ;  "  day  of  redemption  "  (Eph.  4 :  30) ;  a  "  day  of  dark- 
ness and  of  gloominess;  a  day  of  clouds  and  of  thick 
darkness  "  (Joel  2 :  2).  "  In  the  day  of  prosperity,  be 
joyful ;  but  in  the  day  of  adversity,  consider"  (Eccl.  7: 
14).  "  If  thou  hadst  known  in  this  thv  day  the  things," 
etc.  (Luke  19:  42).  So  also  Job  19:  25,  and  John  8:  5G, 
etc. 

To  set  aside  this  testimony  from  usage  as  being  in- 
applicable to  the  present  case,  it  has  been  said — 
(a.)  That  here  is  a  succession  of  days,  "first  day,"  "second 
day,"  "  third  day,"  etc.,  and  that  this  requires  the  usual 

sense  of  days  of  the  week. To  which  the  answer  is 

that  here  are  six  special  periods  succeeding  each  other — 
a  sufficient  reason  for  using  the  word  in  the  peculiar 
sense  of  a  period  of  special  character.  Each  of  these 
periods    is  distinct  from  any  and  all  the   rest  in   the 

cliaracter  of  the  work  wrought  in  it. The  reason  for 

dividing  the  creative  work  into  six  periods — "  days  " — 
rather  than  into  more  or  fewer  lies  in  the  divine  wisdom 
as  to  the  best  proportion  of  days  of  man's  labor  to  the 
one  day  of  his  rest,  the  Sabbath.  God's  plan  for  his 
creative  work  contemplated  his  own  exam])le  as  sug- 
gestive of  man's  Sabbath  and  was  shaped  accordingly. 
This  accounts  for  dividing;  the  work  of  creation  into  six 


18  CREATION  :   ON   THE    WORD    "*DAY." 

special  periods,  correlated  to  God's  day  of  rest  from  cre- 
ative work. (b.)  It  will  also  be  urged  that  each  of 

these  days  is  said  to  be  made  up  of  evening  and  of 
morning — "The  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
first  day."  etc.  But  the  strength  of  this  objection  comes 
mainly  from  mistranslation  and  consequent  miscon- 
ception of  the  original.  The  precise  thought  is  not 
that  evening  and  morning  composed  or  made  up  one 
full  day  ;  but  rather  this  :  There  was  evening  and  there 
was  morning — day  one,  i.  e.,  day  number  one.  There 
was  darkness  and  then  there  was  light,  indicating  one 
of  the  great  creative  periods.* 

It  is  one  thing  to  say — There  were  alternations  of 
evening  and  morning — i.  e.  dark  scenes  and  bright 
scenes — marking  the  successive  periods  of  creation,  first, 
second,  third,  etc.;  and  another  thing  to  affirm  that  each 
of  these  evenings  and  mornings  made  up  a  day.  The 
point  specially  affirmed  in  the  two  cases,  though  some- 
what analogous,  is  not  by  any  means  identical. Let  it 

be  considered  moreover,  that  while  in  Hebrew  as  in  Eng- 
lish, night  and  day  are  often  used  for  the  average  twelve- 
hour  duration  of  darkness  and  of  light  respectively  in  each 
twenty-four  hours,  yet  in  neither  language  are  the  words 
evenincj  n,nd.  morning  used  in  this  sense,  as  S3aionymous 
with  night  and  day.  Indeed  "evening"  and  "  morn- 
ing "  are  rather  points  than  periods  of  time ;  cer- 
tainly do  not  indicate  any  definite  amount  of  time — any 
precise  number  of  hours ;  but  are  used  to  denote  the 
two  great  changes — i.  e.  from  light  to  darkness  and  from 
darkness  to  light;  in  other  words,  from  day  to  night 
and  from  night  to  day.  Therefore  to  make  evening  and 
morning  added  together  constitute  one  day  is  entirely 
without  warrant  in  either  Hebrew  or  English  usage  and 
can  not   be  the   meaning   of   these  passages  in  Gene- 

sis.f 

(2.)  The  shoiving  of  the  narrative  itself,  considered  apart 
from  the  bearing  of  geological  facts. 

(a.)  Here  vs.  3-5  demand  special  attention,  this  first 

*  Dr.  A.  M'Caul  in  "  Aids  to  Faith,"  page  241  renders  it — "  And 
evening  happened  and  morning  happened — one  day."  Precisely  tliis 
is  the  sense  of  the  Scptuagint  and  of  the  Syriac.  See  also  Tayler 
Lewis  in  Lange's  Genesis,  pp.  132,  133. 

t  See  the  usage  in  David  (Ps.  55:  17),  "Evening  and  morning 
and  at  noon  will  I  pray." 


CREATION  :    ON   THE   WORD    "  DAY."  19 

day  being  the  model  one. 1  understand  "evening" 

to  be  the  chaotic  state  of  v.  2,  when  "  darkness  was  on 
the  face  of  the  deep,"  and  "morning"  to  be  that  first 
"  light "  which  God  spake  into  being.  The  reason  for 
using  these  words — "evening  and  morning" — in  this 
sense  I  find  in  the  universal  sentiment  of  mankind  that 
light  is  pleasant  and  darkness  is  not.  This  sentiinent 
is  indicated  here;  "God  saw  the  light  that  it  was 
good."  The  state  of  chaos  was  in  contrast  with  this — 
dismal,  dreary,  awakening  no  sense  of  beauty  or  order  ; 
no  emotions  of  joy.  The  light  of  day  brings  jo}'',  and 
the  freshest  and  best  sensation  of  it  comes  with  the 
morning.  Hence  these  words  were  fitly  and  beautifully 
appropriate  to  the  two  great  creative  states — first  chaos; 
secondly,  light — which  together  marked  off  the  first  of 

the  six  creative  days. But  we  can  not  for  a  moment 

tliink  of  this  chaotic  state  as  being  only  twelve  hours. 
We  can  not  rationally  tliink  of  the  word  "  evening  "  ap- 
plied to  it  as  having  any  reference  to  time,  duration. 
It  was  an  evening  only  in  the  sense  of  being  dark,  des- 
olate, any  thing  but  joyous  like  the  morning.  The 
word  "evening"  may  be  chosen  rather  than  night 
for  the  sake  of  a  more  perfect  antithesis  with  "morning." 

(b.)  Throughout  at  least  the  first  three  of  these  crea- 
tive epochs  there  was  no  sun-rising  and  setting  to  mark 
off  the  ordinary  day.  These  therefore  were  not  the 
common  human  day ;  but,  as  Augustine  long  ago  said, 
these  are  the  days  of  God — divine  days — measuring  off 
his  great  creative  periods.  God  moved  through  these 
six  great  periods  by  successive  stages  of  labor  and  of 
rest.  Beginning  with  the  long  evening  of  chaos;  then 
advancing  to  a  glorious  day  of  light;  then,  after  a  ces- 
sation analogous  to  man's  rest  by  night,  he  proceeded 
to  the  work  of  the  second  day — the  joyous  and  beautiful 
development  of  the  firmament  in  the  heavens.  So  on- 
ward by  stages  of  repose  and  of  activity,  these  figura- 
tive evenings  and  mornings  continued  through  the  six 
successive  epochs  of  creation. 

(c.)  In  some  at  least  of  these  creative  epochs,  the 
work  done  demands  more  time  than  twenty-four  hours. 
For  example,  the  gathering  of  the  waters  from  under 
the  heavens  into  one  place  to  constitute  the  seas  or 
oceans  and  leave  portions  of  the  earth's  surface  dry  land. 
Nothino;  short  of  absolute  miracle  could  effect  this  in 


20  CREATION  :    ON   THE    WORD    ''  DAY." 

one  human  day.  But  miracle  should  not  be  assumed 
here,  the  rule  of  reason  and  the  normal  law  of  God's 
operations  being  never  to  work  a  miracle  in  a  case  where 
the  ordinary  course  of  nature  will  accomplish  the  same 
results  equally  well.  We  must  the  more  surely  exclude 
miracle  and  assume  the  action  of  natural  law  only 
throughout  these  processes  of  the  creative  work  because 
the  very  purpose  of  a  protracted  rather  than  an  instan- 
taneous creation  looked  manifestly  to  the  enlighten- 
ment, instruction,  interest,  and  joy  of  those  "  morning 
stars,"  the  "sons  of  God"  who  beheld  the  scene,  then 

"sang  together  and  shouted  for  joy"  (Job  38:  7). 

The  greatness  of  the  work  assigned  to  the  fourth  day 
stringently  forbids  our  compressing  it  within  the  limits 
of  one  ordinary  human  day.  Especially  is  this  the  case 
if  we  understand  the  verse  to  speak  of  the  original 
creation  of  these  light-bearers— the  sun  and  the  moon  and 
the  stars  also,  and  of  their  adjustment  in  their  spheres 
for  their  assigned  work.  Think  of  the  vastness  of  the 
sun  and  of  the  numbers,  magnitude,  and  immense  dis- 
tances of  the  stars  ;  and  ask  how  it  is  possible  that  the 
creation  of  these  bodies  could  be  either  instructive  or 
joyful  to  the  beholding  angels  if  it  had  been  all  rushed 

through  within  twenty-four  hours  of  human  time. 

This  difficulty  is  in  a  measure  relieved  if  we  suppose 
the  fourth  day's  work  to  have  been,  not  the  original  cre- 
ation of  these  heavenly  bodies,  but  only  the  bringing  of 
them  into  the  view  of  a  supposed  spectator  upon  the 
earth — i.  e.  by  clearing  the  atmosphere  so  as  to  make 
these  heavenly  bodies  visible.  The  question  at  issue 
between  these  two  constructions  of  the  fourth  day's  work 
must  be  examined  in  its  place. The  amount  of  crea- 
tive and  other  work  brought  within  the  sixth  day  should 
be  noticed.  First,  God  created  all  the  land  animals  ; 
then  Adam ;  then  he  brought  "  every  beast  of  the  field 
and  every  fowl  of  the  air"  to  Adam  to  see  what  he  would 
call  tliem — which  at  least  must  assume  that  Adam  had 
attained  a  somewhat  full  knowledge  of  language,  and 
that  he  had  time  enough  to  study  the  special  character 
of  each  animal  so  as  to  give  each  one  its  appropriate 
name,  and  time  enough  also  to  ascertain  that  there  was 
not  one  among  them  all  adapted  to  be  a  "  helpmeet " 
for  himself.  Then  the  "  deep  sleep  "  of  Adam — how 
long  protracted,  the  record  saith  not ;  and  finally  the 


creation:   on  the  worl  "day."  21 

creation  of  Eve  from  one  of  his  ribs — all  to  come  within 
t  he  sixth  day ;  for  the  creation  of  Eve  certainly  falls  within 
this  day,  being  a  part  of  the  creative  work,  and  accom- 
plished, therefore,  before  God's  seventh  day  of  rest  from  all 
liis  work  began.  These  labors  of  the  sixth  day,  moreover, 
were  precisely  such  as  should  not  be  rushed  through  in 
haste.  The  importance,  not  to  say  solemnity,  of  these 
transactions  and  the  special  interest  they  nmst  be  sup- 
posed toawaken  in  the  lirst-born  "  sons  of  God"  most  strin- 
gently preclude  precipitate  haste.  It  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  Moses  or  his  intelligent  readers  of  the  early  time  could 
liave  supposed  all  this  to  have  transpired  within  the 

twelve  hours  of  light  in  a  human  day. We  may  say, 

moreover,  in  regard  to  each  and  all  of  these  six  creative 
l)eriods  that  if  the  holy  angels  were  indeed  spectators 
of  these  scenes  and  if  God  adjusted  his  methods  of  cre- 
ation to  the  capacities  of  these  pupils — these  admiring 
students  of  his  glorious  works — then  surely  we  must  not 
think  of  his  compressing  them  within  the  period  of  six 
human  daj^s.  Divine  days  they  certainly  must  have 
been,  sufficiently  protracted  to  afford  fmJle  minds  scope 
for  intelligent  study,  adoring  contemplation,  and  as  the 
Bible  indicates,  most  rapturous  shouts  of  jo3^ 

Against  the  theory  of  indefinitely  long  periods,  it  is 
objected  that  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  demands  the  usual 
sense  of  the  ivord  "  dayJ'  The  record  in  Gen.  2 :  2,  3,  is — 
"On  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work  which  he 
had  made ;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all 
his  Avork  which  he  had  made.  And  God  blessed  the 
seventh  day  and  sanctified  it,  because  that  in  it  he  had 
rested  from  all  his  work  which  he  had  created  and 
made."  The  words  of  the  fourth  command  are — "  Six 
days  shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work ;  but  the  sev- 
enth day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  etc. — for 
in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth  :  where- 
fore the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath  day  and  hallowed 
it." The  real  argument  here  rests  on  the  analogy  be- 
tween God's  working  and  resting,  and  man's  labor  and 
i&st.  In  each  case  the  period  of  labor  is  six  out  of 
seven;  of  rest,  one  in  seven.  This  argument  does  not 
require  that  God's  six  Avorking  days  and  one  resting 
day  should  be  of  twenty-four  hours  each.  If  it  did,  we 
should  be  hard  pressed  to  show  that  God's  seventh  day 
of  rest  from  creation's  work  was  a  merely  human  day 


22  CREATION  :    ON   THE   WORD       DAY." 

from  sun  to  sun.  No;  it  suffices  if  we  make  God's  daj'S 
of  creative  energy  and  of  creative  rest  each  and  all 
divine  days— all  alike  periods  of  indefinite  length— all 
of  the  same  sort ;  and  on  the  other  hand  man's  days  of 
labor  and  his  day  of  rest,  all  human  days,  of  the  same 
sort  with  each  other,  from  sun  to  sun.  As  God's  rest- 
ing day  is  plainly  of  indefinite  length — a  period  known 
by  its  character  and  not  by  its  duration,  so  should  his 
days  of  creative  labor  be :  not  only  so  may  they  be,  but 
so  they  ought  to  be  according  to  the  analogy  and  argu- 
ment in  the  case. We  come  therefore  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  entirely  apart  from  the  demands  of  geological 
science,  the  creative  days  must  be  periods  of  indefinite 
length,  called  "days"  with  reference  to  the  peculiar 
work  done  in  them  and  to  their  peculiar  character,  and 
not  as  being  the  ordinary  human  day  of  twenty-four 
hours.  It  may  be  admitted,  moreover,  that  the  jjlirase- 
ology  and  the  whole  shaping  of  the  narrative  in  respect 
to  days  may  have  contemplated  the  institution  of  the 
Sabbath — to  be  founded  as  shown  above  upon  the  anal- 
ogy of  God's  labor  and  rest  with  man's  permitted  labor 
and  enjoined  rest  in  commemoration  of  God's  work  of 
creation. 

(3.)  We  are  to  consider  the  geological  facts  bearing  on 
this  point  and  the  weight  legitimately  due  to  them. 

If  the  point  last  put  has  been  sustained,  it  will  be 
seen  at  the  outset  that  even  should  geology  make  large 
demands  for  time,  far  beyond  the  ordinary  human  day, 
we  shall  have  no  occasion  to  strain  the  laws  of  interpre- 
tation to  bring  the  record  into  harmony  with  such  de- 
mands.  We   open   this   incjuiry  therefore  into  the 

facts  of  geology,  not  so  much  to  make  out  if  possible  a 
harmony  between  them  and  Genesis  by  toning  down 
the  facts  of  science  or  by  toning  up  the  inspired  record, 
as  to  show  how  readily  and  how  beautifully  the  facts 
just  as  they  are  (so  far  as  known)  accord  with  the  le- 
gitimate sense  of  the  sacred  record. 

Preliminary  to  the  main  inquiry  before  us  is  the 
question  as  to  the  primary  original  state  of  matter. 
Was  it  brought  into  existence  in  its  primordial  ele- 
ments— those  molecules  which  not  only  defy  all  human 
effort  at  analysis,  but  which  seem  to  be  in  their  nature 

the  simplest  forms  of  matter? Chemistry  has  shown 

that  many  of  the  most  familiar  substances,  long  sup- 


CKEATION  :    ON    THE    WORD    "DAY."  23 

posed  to  be  simple,  are  really  compound.  Were  they 
orought  into  existence  in  the  state  in  which  we  com- 
monly see  them,  or  in  their  ultimate,  most  simple  ele- 
ments? For  example,  did  God  originally  create  Avater, 
or  the  two  gases  (hydrogen  and  oxygen)  of  which  it  is 
composed,  which  were  subsequently  combined  chem- 
ically into  water? On  this  jooint  the  Scriptures  are 

si'lent.  If  Science  has  any  thing  to  reveal  about  it,  the 
field  is  open  to  her  and  she  may  proceed,  nothing  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures  dissenting  or  restricting.  If  she  suc- 
ceeds in  proving  or  half  proving  that  the  first  state  of 
matter  was  nebulous — a  "fire-mist" — gaseous  in  form, 
very  well.  I  do  not  see  that  the  record  of  Moses  con- 
tests this  theory.  It  passes  this  point  with  no  dog- 
matic statements  Avhatever,  not  even  a  fact  which 
necessarily  implies  either  the  affirmative  or  the  nega- 
tive. The  record  in  Genesis  does  assume  that  at  the 
point  where  the  second  day's  work  begins,  the  atmos- 
phere was  heavily  charged  with  vapor,  and  that  a  part 
of  this  was  precipitated  upon  the  earth  in  water  and  a 
part  borne  upward  into  the  higher  strata  of  the  atmos- 
phere. The  third  day's  work  gathered  the  waters  then 
upon  the  earth's  surface  into  the  ocean  beds  and  left 
portions  of  the  land  dry.  Consequently  the  state  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  in  general  the  condition  of  the  waters 
of  our  globe  were  not  arranged  at  first  just  as  we  have 
them  now.     So  much  we  are  told. 

There  are  yet  other  preliminary  questions. 

On  the  shores  of  lakes,  seas,  oceans,  we  find  pebbles 
rounded  and  smooth,  mincralogically  of  the  same  ele- 
ments which  are  found  in  rock  formations.  Were  they 
created  in  this  rounded  and  worn  state,  or  were  they 
once  portions  of  these  rock  strata,  but  subsequently 
broken  up  by  natural  age'ncies  and  worn  by  the  action 
of  flowing  water? 

Another  case.  Coal  beds  often  contain  what  seem  to 
be  whole  trees  and  huge  vegetables  (ferns,  etc.)  ap- 
parently charred  and  converted  into  coal.  Were  they 
created  just  as  we  find  them,  or  were  they  indeed  trees 
and  vegetables  before  they  became  coal"? Yet  an- 
other case.  The  rocks  nearest  the  surface  contain  al- 
most universally  more  or  less  of  Avhat  seem  like  fos- 
silized plants  and  animals.  They  have  the  form  of  the 
plant  or  animal  in  wonderful  i^crfectiuu.     Were  these 


24  CREATION  :    ON   THE   WORD   "  DAY." 

fossiliferous  rocks,  containing  apparent  fossils,  created 
as  Ave  see  them,  or  were  these  fossils  once  real  plants 

and  animals  ? 1  see  no  reason  whatever  to  hesitate 

over  these  questions.  We  can  not  suppose  that  God 
created  these  worn  and  rounded  pebbles,  these  charred 
trees  and  ferns,  these  prints  of  animal  footsteps — these 
facsimiles  of  his  creative  work  in  the  vegetable  and  an- 
imal kingdom,  for  the  sake  of  puzzling  or  misleading, 
or,  in  plainest  Avords,  deceiving  his  intelligent  off- 
spring. He  never  could  have  meant  to  baffle  all  scien- 
tific inquiry  into  his  works  of  creation.  Rather  we 
must  assume  that  he  lays  his  works  open  to  such  in- 
quiries, and  invites  men  to  study  and  learn  his  ways. 
If  this  be  admitted,  it  follows  that  these  stratified  and 
fossil-bearing  rocks  open  to  us  a  great  volume  of  Pre- 
Adamic  history  of  our  globe,  revealing  its  processes  of 
rock -formation;  to  some  extent  its  climatic  and  various 
conditions  for  the  support  of  life,  vegetable  and  animal, 
and  for  its  successive  populations  of  plants  and  an- 
imals. 

Grouping  comprehensively  some  geological  facts  bear- 
ing on  the  duration  of  the  great  creative  periods,  I 
note  (1.)  Vast  strata  of  rock-formations,  widely  diverse 
from  each  other,  too  diverse  to  have  been  formed  under 
the  same  circumstances  and  conditions  of  our  globe. 
Some— the  lowest  in  relative  position — appear  to  have 
been  once  in  a  state  of  fusion  under  intense  heat, 
while  others — in  general  all  the  higher  rocks — seem  to 
have  been  deposited  under  water.  Mineralogically, 
these  rocks  differ  from  each  other  very  widely  and  also 

from  the  fused  rocks. (2.)  Again,  some  are  manifestly 

composed  of  fragments  of  pre-existing  rocks,  broken  off 
and  worn  by  long-continued  attrition  and  then  com- 
pacted— known    as    pudding-stone — the    breccias. 

(3.)  Yet  again;  immense  strata  of  these  intermediate 
and  higher  rocks  contain  fossil  organic  remains,  some 
of  vegetables,  others  of  animals  or  of  both,  and  also  in 
very  great  variety.  More  marvelous  still ;  they  are 
found  occurring  in  groups,  bearing  a  Avell  defined  rela- 
tion to  each  other,  so  that  one  stratum  of  rock  contains 
species  of  vegetables  and  also  of  animals  in  a  mcasiare 
adapted  to  each  other,  and  adjusted  to  the  condition  of 
the  earth's  surface  and  climate  at  one  and  the  same 
time.     Arjothcr  stratum  shall  contain  a  different  group. 


creation:  on  the  word  "day."  25 

to  some  extent  new  and  yet  not  altogether  so,  but  lap- 
ping on  with  some  of  the  earth's  old  inhabitants  repro- 
duced, and  omitting  other  species. (4.)  Again,  im- 
mense beds  of  coal  are  found,  undoubtedly  of  vegetable 
origin,  differing  somewhat  widely  from  each  other  as 
having  been  formed  from  diverse  vegetable  and  forest 
material,  and  under  various  degrees  of  heat  and  press- 
ure. No  small  amount  of  time  must  be  given  for  the 
growth  and  deposition  of  these  mountain  piles  of  tree 

and  fern. The  charring  of  these  coal-pits  of  nature 

was  provided  for  in  the  "  fervent  heat "  of  the  earth  just 
below  the  surface,  coupled  with  pressure  brought  upon 
them  it  would  seem  by  convulsions  and  upbreakings,  to 
which  the  earth's  crust  has  been  many  times  sub- 
jected.  (5.)  Limestone,  largely  of  animal  origin,  de- 
mands in  like  manner  time  for  the  growth  of  the  ani- 
mals whose  shelly  incasements,  accumulating  age 
after  age,  have  made  such  ample  provision  of  limestone 
and  of  lime  for  the  use  of  man. 

This  list  of  nature's  facts  as  the  practiced  eye  reads 
them  from  the  crust  of  our  earth  does  not  claim  to  be 
exhaustive.  If  it  were  all,  however,  it  would  still  be 
amply  sufficient  to  sustain  the  demand  for  long  cre- 
ative periods  as  opposed  to  ordinary  human  days.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  this  demand,  coming  forth 
from  the  facts  developed  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  falls 
in  most  fully  Avith  what  we  have  seen  to  be  the  legiti- 
mate construction  of  the  Mosaic  record. 

Prominent  points  nf  harmonj/  bdiveen  Genesis  and  Geology. 

(1.)  Creation  was  a  gradual  process^  spanning  from 
beginning  to  end  long  periods  of  time.  I  use  the  word 
"  creation"  to  comprehend  not  only  the  original  produc- 
tion of  matter,  but  its  subsequent  changes  and  trans- 
formations till  the  earth  was  fully  prepared  for  the 
abode  of  man. 

(2.)  The  earth  was  for  a  considerable  time  under  water. 
The  record  of  Moses  is  decisive  to  this  point.  The  cur- 
rent theory  in  respect  to  the  formation  of  most  if  not 
all  the  7'ocky  strata  of  the  earth's  crust  is  equally  so. 

(3.)  Tliere  ?ras  light  on  the  earth  before  the  appearance  of 
the  sun.     Genesis  dates  the  light  from  the  first  day;  the 

appearance  of  the  sun,  from  the  fourth. The  theory 

that  the  primitive  state  of  created  matter  was  gaseoua 
(or  neljulous)  provides  for  this,  since  it  is  well  known 


26  CREATION  :    GENESIS  AND  GEOLOGY  AT  ONE. 

that  the  chemical  combination  of  the  two  gases  that 
form  water  (for  instance) — a  combination  produced  by 
electricit3%  evolves  light.  But  we  are  not  restricted  to 
tliis  hypothesis  to  account  for  light  before  the  sun  was 
visible.  The  state  of  the  atmosphere  may  furnish  all 
the  causes  needed.     See  beloAV,  page  32. 

(4.)  Vegetables  ivere  created  before  animals.  So  Moses, 
for  he  locates  the  former  on  the  third  day ;  the  latter 
on  the  fifth  and  sixth.  This  is  of  course  the  order  of 
nature  since  the  animals  are  to  subsist  on  vegetables. 
Geology  finds  vegetables  in  fossil  state  below  the  ear- 
liest animals. 

(5.)  Among  the  animal  tribes,  those  of  the  water  are 
before  those  of  the  land.  Genesis  gives  us  fish  and  rep- 
tiles and  even  fowl  before  the  mammals — land  ani- 
mals—the former  on  the  fifth  day;  the  latter  Avith  man 
on  the  sixth.  Geology  indorses  this  order,  showing 
that  fish  and  reptiles  lie  in  rocks  lower  and  older  than 
quadrupeds. 

(6.)  Man  is  last  of  all.  The  testimony  of  the  rocks 
is  here  at  one  with  that  of  Genesis — other  animals  and 
the  vegetables  also,  long  ages  before  man. 

Now  how  has  it  happened  that  this  record,  coming 
to  us  through  Moses,  harmonizes  so  wonderfully  with 
the  main  results  of  a  science  yet  in  its  infancy — almost 
utterly  unknown  until  the  present  century  ?  Is  it  due 
to  the  scientific  attainments  of  Moses?  Is  it  not 
rather  due  to  inspiration — "holy  men  of  old" — Moses 
himself  or  the  fathers  before  him — being  taught  by 
the  same  Being  who  "in  the  beginning  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth?"  The  marvel  is  that  this  rec- 
ord should  be  so  constructed  as  to  present  a  very  intel- 
ligible view  of  the  processes  of  the  six  days'  work  to  the 
average  mind  of  the  race  before  geological  science  was 
born,  and  yet  when  this  science  begins  to  develop  the 
constitution  and  composition  of  the  earth's  surface,  the 
inspired  record  is  found  to  harmonize  with  these  devel- 
opments in  all  important  features.  So  it  is  wont  to 
happen.  Truth  rejoices  in  the  light.  A  truthful  Bible 
and  all  true  science  meet  in  loving  communion,  evin- 
cing their  common  parentage — offsj^ring  of  the  same 
Infinite  Father. 

4.  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth."    Was  this  the  original  production  of  matter; 


creation:  sexsic  of  "create"  in  gen.  l:  i.      27 

or  was  it  only  the  modification  of  pre-existcnt  matter 
into  new  forms?  (1.)  That  this  was  the  original  pro- 
duction of  matter  is  probable  a  priori  because  it  is  tn'c, 
and  because  it  is  a  truth  very  important  to  afiirm  in 
this  first  revelation.  Matter  is  not  eternal  and  self- 
existent.  Those  who  intelligently  believe  in  one 
Supreme  God — an  Infinite,  Intelligent  Spirit,  will 
need  no  words  wasted  to  disprove  the  assumption  that 
matter  existed  from  eternit}^,  the  Author  of  itself ;  for  this 
assumption  ascribes  to  matter  the  distinctive  qualities 

of  God  himself. It  is  moreover  important  that  God 

should  declare  himself  to  be  the  author  of  all  existing 
matter  in  the  universe.  This  is  one  of  his  great  and 
distinctive  works — one  which  human  sj)eculation  has 
been  prone  to  deny  him,  and  which  therefore  it  is  of 
the  utmost  consequence  that  he  should  aflfirm.  (2.)  The 
passage  (Ps.  90 :  2)  ascribed  to  Moses,  expressly  declares 
that  God  existed  "  before  the  mountains.''  "  Before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,  even  from  everlasting 
to  everlasting  thou  art  God."  Moses  did  not  think 
matter  to  be  eternal.  He  knew  and  taught  that  God 
existed  from  eternity  and  that  matter  did  not.  The 
obvious  sense  of  his  words  is  that  God  "  brought  forth  " 
(i.  e.  into  existence-)  the  mountains  of  this  earthly 
globe. 

(3.)  The  writer  to  the  Hebrews  aflfirms  that  this  doc- 
trine— God  the  original  Creator  of  matter — is  accepted 
by  faith,  i.  e.  upon  the  credit  of  God's  own  testimony. 
"  By  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed 
by  the  word  of  God  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were 
not  made  of  things  that  do  appear  "  (Heb.  11 :  3).  Not 
being  constructed  out  of  matter  previously  apparent, 
they  must  have  been  made  by  the  direct  production  of 
matter  not  before  existing. 

(4.)  This  is  the  natural  and  obvious  sense  of  the 
words  and  this  the  place  to  affirm  this  first  fact  in  the 
work  of  creation.  This  is  the  point  to  start  with. 
How  came  the  matter  of  the  universe  into  being  at  all? 
Whence  came  this  material  substance  composing  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  ?  In  the  beginning  God  created 
it. It  may  be  said  truthfully  that  if  God  had  pur- 
posed to  reveal  himself  as  the  Author  of  matter — the 
real  Maker  of  it  all — he  could  have  found  no  Avords 
more  fitted  to  his  purpose  than  these.     Hence  to  deny 


28     creation:    sense  of  "create"  in  gen.  l:  1. 

that  this  is  their  sense  is  the  next  thing  to  denying  to 
God  the  right  or  the  power  to  reveal  this  fact  at  all. 

(5.)  It  is  objected  that  the  primary  sense  of  the  word 
bara  *  (used  here)  is  not  to  bring  into  existence  what 
had  no  existence  before,  but  "  to  cut,  to  cut  out,  to  carve  " 
(Gosenius) ;  "  to  cut,  form,  fashion  "  (Fuerst).  But  this 
objection,  though  plausible  to  a  merely  superficial  view, 
is  really  of  very  little  force.  Usage,  not  etymological 
relation,  gives  law  to  language.  The  etymological,  pri- 
mary sense  of  barah,  the  common  Hebrew  word  for  bless, 
is  to  break ;  then  to  bend  as  the  knee,  to  kneel  and  to 
cause  one  to  kneel;  and  then,  perhaps  from  the  custom 
of  kneeling  to  receive  the  patriarchal  benediction,  or  to 
implore  blessings  from  God,  comes  the  ultimate  and  by 
far  the  most  common  significance — to  bless.  Usage  in 
every  case  must  determine  the  most  common  and  there- 
fore most  probable  sense ;  then  the  context  and  the 
known  opinions  of  the  writer  come  in  to  aid  toward 
the  true  sense  in  any  given  instance. 

In  the  Hebrew  verb  regard  must  be  had  to  its  form, 
technically  called  its  "  conjugation,"  since  the  sense  of 
the  several  conjugations  from  the  same  root  may  vary 
widely.  In  this  verb  (bara)  the  sense  of  Hiphil  conju- 
gation is  to  fatten — which  is  very  remote  from  the 
sense  of  "  Kal  "  and  of  its  passive  "Niphal."  In  Piel 
only  do  we  find  the  etymological  sense  to  cut,  to  carve 
out  (five  times  only)  and  these  spoken  of  human  opera- 
tions exclusively  (.Josh.  17  :  15,  18  and  Ezek.  23  :  47 
and  21 :  19).  But  in  Kal  and  its  passive  Niphal,  we 
find  the  word  used  forty-eight  times,  and  always  of  divine 
operations — always  of  some  form  of  creative  work  wrought 
by  God  himself  and  never  by  man.f 

t  The  following  synoptical  view  of  the  passages  in  which  ni3 
or  N133  occurs  is  given  in  the  Eibliotheca  Sacra  (Oct.  1850,  pp. 
763,  764)  by  Prof.  E.  P.  Barrows. "It  is  used, 

I.  Of  the  original  creation:  1.  Of  the  world  generally,  or  parts  of 
it :  Gen.  1 :  1  and  1 :  21  and  2  :  3,  4  and  Ps.  89  :  12  and  148  :  5  and 
Isa.  40  :  26  and  40 :  28  and  42  :  5  and  45  :  18  (twice),  Amos  4:13. 

Also  Isa.  45:    7  (twice);    making  fourteen  times  in  all. 2.  Of 

rational  man  :  Gen.  1  :  27  (thrice)  and  5:  1,  2  (twice)  and  6:  7  and 
Deut.  4 :  32  and  Isa.  45 :  12  and  Eccl.  12:1  and  Mai.  2  :  10.  Here 
also  we  may  conveniently  place  Ps.  89:  47  ;  twelve  times. 

II.  Of  a  subsequent  creation  r  1.  Of  the  successive  generations  of 
men,  Ps.  102:  18  and  of  animal  beings,  Ps.  104  :  30. 2.  Of  nations 


creation:    sense  of  "create"  in  gen.  1:1.      29 

The  testimony  therefore  from  usage  is  entirely  con- 
clusive to  the  point  that  this  word  in  this  form  of  it  was 
specially  appropriated  to  signify  God's  creative  acts — 

the  exertion  of  his  creative  power. There  are  two 

other  Hebrew  words  having  the  sense  to  make,  to  form, 
[asah  and  yatsar],  which  are  sometimes  used  of  God  as 
creating  but  by  far  most  often  of  man's  work  in  forming 
and  molding  material  things.  Now  note  the  argument. 
The  Hebrews  had  these  three  words  for  making,  out  of 
which  one  only  is  used  exclusively  of  God — never  of 
man — as  a  maker.  Now  there  is  one  siDCcial  sense  in 
which  God  can  make  and  man  can  not,  viz.  that  of 
bringing  into  existence  what  had  no  existence  before. 
Over  against  this,  place  the  fact  that  their  word  "bara" 
is  used  of  God's  making  forty-eight  times  and  of  man's 
making  never,  and  we  must  conclude  that  they  ex- 
pressed by  this  word  that  distinctive  power  of  God 
which  man  never  can  even  approach — viz.  the  power 
to  give  existence  to  matter,  to  mind  and  to  life.  In  passages 
where  this  sense  of  "  bara  "  is  appropriate,  there  can  be 
no  question  that  it  is  the  real  meaning. 

5.   The  relation  of  v.  1  to  v.  2  and  to  the  rest  of  the  chapter. 

Some  have  maintained  that  v.  1  is  only  a  statement 
in  general  terms'of  the  contents  of  the  chapter,  a  head- 
ing, stating  no  particular  fact  distinct  from  what  fol- 
lows.  Others  take  it  to  be  one  fact  in  the  series — the 

first  step  in  the  process  of  the  creative  work — the  suc- 
cessive steps  then  following  in  due  order.  This  latter 
construction  I  accept;  and  urge  in  its  support, 

(1.)  That  this  is  the  most  obvious  sense  of  the  words. 
The  word  "  And "  (v.  2)  ''And  the  earth  was  without 

under  the  figure  of  individuals,  Ezek.  21  :  35  (Eng.  version  v.  30) 

and  28  :  13,  15;  three  times  in  Ezekiel  only. o.  Of  particular 

ir.en  as  the  instruments  of  God's  purposes;  Isa.  54:  16  (twice). 

4.  Of  miraculous  events ;  Ex.  34  :  lU  and  Num.  IG  :  30  and  Jer.  31 : 
22. 5.  Of  events  foretold  in  proijhecy ;  Isa,  48 :  7. 

III.  Of  creation  in  a  moral  senne :  1.  Of  a  clean  heart  and  holy  af- 
fections and  actions ;  Ps.  51  :  10  and  Isa.  45  :  8  and  57  :    19. 2. 

Of  Israel  as  God's  covenant  people,  or  of  a  member  of  Israel;  Isa. 

43:  1,  7,  15. 3.  Of  a  new  and  glorious  order  of  things  for  Israel 

and  in  Israel ;  Isa.  4  :    5  and  41 :  20  and  65  :  17,  18  (twice). 

An  examination  of  tliese  passages  (half  of  which  relate  to  tlie 
original  creation)  will  sliow  that  in  every  instance  the  idea  is  that 
of  bringing  into  being  by  divine  power.  Whether  that  which  is 
created  is  new  matter,  or  something  else  that  is  new,  must  be  deter- 
mined by  the  context." 


30     CREATION  :    RELATION    OF    V.  1  TO   WHAT   FOLLOWS. 

form,"  etc.,  must  be  taken  as  continuing  the  subject— not 
as  commencing  it.  It  should  give  us  another  and  suc- 
ceeding fact,  and  not  be  taken  to  begin  a  detailed 
history. 

(2.)  This  is  the  natural  order  of  the  facts.  First, 
matter  must  be  brought  into  existence.  Nothing  can 
be  done  with  it,  nothing  can  be  said  about  it,  until  it  is. 
The  first  verse  therefore  is  the  natural  beginning  of  the 
narrative — the  first  lact  to  be  stated.  The  second  verse 
gives  naturally  the  next  fact,  viz.  the  condition  of  this 
matter  immediately-prior  to  the  six  days'  creative  work 
upon  it.  Deferring  the  little  he  has  to  say  upon  the 
"  heavens,"  he  calls  our  attention  to  the  earth  as  being 
of  chief  interest  to  man,  and  makes  this  the  main  theme 

of  the  chapter. An  observer  would  have  seen  the 

earth  mantled  in  darkness,  its  atmosphere  laden  with 
murky  vapors  and  dense  mists ;  the  surface  (if  indeed 
the  waters  below  could  be  distinguished  from  the  waters 
above)  one  wide  waste  of  waters,  all  formless,  vast,  dis- 
mal; with  nothing  of  order  or  beauty 'on  which  the  eye 
could  rest.  Above  and  upon  this  shapeless  mass  the 
Spirit  of  God  was  hovering,  or  shall  we  say  incubating, 
for  such  may  be  the  figure  involved  in  the  Hebrew 
verb.  Moreover  it  seems  to  bo  implied  that  this  action 
of  the  creative  Spirit  was  protracted.  The  Hebrew 
participle  (used  here)  expresses  continued  action — was 
brooding  over,  incubating,  this  wild,  waste,  desolate 
mass. 

Some  scientific  men  suppose  they  find  in  this  second 
verse,  not  water,  but  the  gaseous  matter  which  ulti- 
uiately  became  water  and  solid  earth.  This  construc- 
tion originates  in  a  theory  in  regard  to  the'  primal  form 
in  Avhich  the  matter  of  our  world  came  from  the  Crea- 
tor's hand,  which  theory  may  or  may  not  be  true,  but 
if  true  is  too  remote  from  the  common  mind  and  too 
foreign  from  the  scope  of  divine  revelation  to  allow  us 
to  suppose  that  God  would  refer  to  it  in  his  revelation. 

Carrying  out  this  scientific  theory,  some  have  held  * 

that  not  only  the  "  waters"  of  v.  2  but  those  of  vs.  6,  7, 
were  gases,  not  waters.  The  fatal  objections  to  this 
theory  are — that  these  "waters"  are  the  same  which 
in  vs.  9,  10,  are  "gathered  into  one  place"  and  "called 
seas;"  also  that  the  common  people  for  several  thousand 

*  See  Bib.  Sacra,  April,  1855,  pp.  325,  326. 


f'KEATION  :     WORK    OF    FOURTH    DAY.  .^1 

3'ears  could  not  have  untlorstood  Moses  if  he  had  spoken 
of  gases — certainly  could  not   have    understood   their 

common  word  for  waters  to  mean  gases. It  is  not 

well  to  strain  and  force  this  simple  narrative  to  speak 
so  scientifically  as  to  be  unintelligible  to  those  for  whom 

it  was  primarily  written. The  first  state  of  created 

matter  may  have  been  gaseous.  The  record  in  Gene- 
sis has  said  nothing  to  forbid  this.  It  certainly  could 
not  come  within  its  province  to  teach  it.  Suffice  it 
that  time  enough  may  be  found  between  verses  1  and 
2  for  a  portion  of  this  gaseous  matter  to  form  water — 
not  to  say  also  to  form  the  more  solid  portions  of  this 
globe. 

The  connection  of  v.  2  with  v.  1  is  such  that  an  in- 
definitely long  period  may  have  intervened.  The  first 
verb  of  v.  2  implies  no  close  connection  with  v.  1.  But, 
in  v.  3  the  form  of  the  first  verb — "  And  then  God 
said" — does  make  a  close  historical  connection  with 
V.  2. 

6.  The  work  of  the  fourth  day.  Were  the  light-bear- 
ers ("lights"  in  the  sense  of  luminaries)  in  the  heav- 
ens, viz.  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  also,  "  made,"  created, 
on  this  day,  or  simply  brought  forth  to  the  view  of  a 

supposed  observer  upon  the  earth? The  latter  theory 

that  they  were  not  first  brought  into  being  then,  but 
only  brought  into  view  from  the  earth — seems  to  me 
most  probable,  because — (1.)  To  suppose  them  created 
then  would  be  out  of  all  proportion  for  one  day's  work 
among  the  six.  Throughout  the  other  five  days'  work 
a  beautiful  proportion  obtains:  it  should  therefore  be 

expected  in  this. If  it  be  said  that  this  consideration 

draws  its  great  strength  from  our  astronomical  knowl- 
edge of  those  heavenly  bodies — much  more  enlarged 
than  those  of  the  age  of  Moses,  I  answer  (a.)  Moses, 
"learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  was  not 
altogether  a  novice  in  astronomy — (b.)  Modern  astron- 
omy is  essentially  true,  not  overrating  the  relative 
magnitude  of  the  heavenly  bodies;  and  this  record  in 
Genesis  comes  from  one  who  knew  all  the  truth. 

(2.)  If  these  verses  be  understood  tospeak  of  thcirorig- 
inal  creation,  it  would  seem  to  be  out  of  place  here  be- 
tween the  creation  of  vegetables  (third  day)  and  of  the 
earliest  born  animals  (the  fifth).  But  in  the  sense  of 
bringing  these  heavenly  bodies  to  view  and  the  sun 


32  CREATION. 

into  its  normal  action  upon  vegetables  and  upon  ani- 
mal comfort,  it  is  precise!}'  in  place. 

(3.)  According  to  the  interpretation  given  to  v."l 
(above)  the  matter  composing  these  heavenly  bodies 
was  brought  into  existence  "  in  the  beginning  "  when 
"God  created  the  heavens"  as  well  as  "the  earth"  and 
before  the  six  days'  work  began.  If  so,  then  the  inter- 
vening processes  of  modification  must  naturally  have 
been  going  on  from  that  time  until  this  fourth  day. 

(4.)  Some  expositors  and  scientists  account  for  the 
light  on  the  first  day  without  the  sun  by  means  of  elec- 
tricity or  other  chemical  agents;  but  it  is  scarcely  j^os- 
sible  that  Moses  and  his  first  readers  could  have  thought 
of  any  thing  but  the  sun  as  the  source  of  that  light,  es- 
pecially because  "  God  called  it  Day,"  and  the  darkness 
alternating  with  it  then  (as  ever  since  the  earth  began 
its  diurnal  revolutions)  "he  called  Night."  This  refer- 
ence to  day  and  night  must  naturally  carry  every  He- 
brew mind  to  the  sun  as  the  source  of  that  light  and  to 
its  well-known  withdrawal  at  evening  as  the  reason  for 
the  darkness  and  the  night. It  need  not  be  sup- 
posed that  the  body  of  the  sun  was  then  visible.  The 
state  of  the  atmosphere  might  have  admitted  a  portion 
of  his  light  and  yet  not  have  disclosed  his  face.  In  our 
times  we  have  seen  cloud}^,  dark  days,  with  no  sun  vis- 
ible, yet  with  a  manifest  distinction  between  day  and 
night. 

7.  The  true  sense  of  the  record  as  to  the  origin  (1) 
of  vegetable  life  (vs.  11,  12),  and  (2)  of  animal  life  (vs. 

20,  21,  24,  25.) The  important  words  are,  "  Let  the 

earth  bring  forth  grass  "  (v.  11) ;  "  and  the  earth  brought 
fortfh  grass"  (v.  12).  "Let  the  Avaters  bring  forth 
abundantly  the  moving  creature,"  etc.  (v.  20);  "and 
God  created  every  living  creature  that  moveth  which 
the  waters  brought  forth  abundantly"  (v.  21).  "Let 
the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature"  (v.  24);  "and 

God  made  the  beast  of  the  earth,"  etc.  (v.  25). Here 

note  that  the  historical  statements  give  the  true  sense  of  the 
imperatives,  and  show  plainly  that  the  earth  and  the 
waters  are  not  creative  but  only  sustaining  powers,  and 
that  they  bring  forth  and  susta'in  only  under  the  fiat  of 
the  Almighty—only  ^vhen  and  as  God  said,  Do  it.  For 
the  whole  tenor  of  these  chapters  (Gen.  1  and  2)  pre- 
sents to  us  God  himself  as  sole  and  supreme  Creator. 


ON    THE    OIIIGIN    OF    LIFE.  33 

In  the  closesst  connection  with  the  earth's  bringing  forth 
the  living  creature,  we  are  told  that  God  made  the  beast 
of  the  field.  Though  the  waters  brought  forth  abun- 
dantly, yet  it  was  still  God  himself  who  created  "every 
living  creature  that  moveth.''  The  agency  of  the  earth 
in  producing  grass  is  presented  in  a  popular  way — the 
precise,  fundamental  thought  being,  that  God  made  the 
earth  his  instrument  in  bringing  forth  all  things  that 
grow;  and  in  like  manner  in  sustaining  animal  life. 

If  we  will,  wo  are  at  liberty  to  push  our  queries  and 
ask  not  only  who  gave  life,  vegetable  and  animal,  but 
howF  In  just  what  way  did  he  impart  that  something — 
be  it  quality  or  power  or  substance — which  we  call  life? 
and  deeper  still — What  is  life?  Is  it  some  subtle  form 
of  matter,  or  only  some  indefinable  force  given  to  mat- 
ter; and  if  this  be  it,  To  what  special  form  of  matter  is 
it  given  ?  If  it  be  matter,  did  God  sow  the  tiny  germs 
thereof  in  the  waters  and  on  the  land  and  leave  them 
to  be  developed  under  auspicious  circumstances?  Or 
did  he  breathe  forth  from  his  own  infinite  life  these 
life-forces  into  material  things  to  make  plants  or  ani- 
mals?  And  yet  again;  Wliat  was  the  status  of  that 

lump  of  dead  matter  (small  or  great)  at  the  point  when 
God  put  into  it  the  life-force  and  it  became  living  mat- 
ter, vegetable  or  animal?  Was  the  first  form  of  the 
living  animal  the  egg,  or  its  microscopic  cell ;  or  was  it 
the  fully  develoi^ed  animal,  prepared  for  all  life's  func- 
tions, and  ready  to  furnish  other  life-bearing  cells  for 
reproduction?  On  these  points  what  says  the  record? 
Not  much  at  the  utmost.  It  does  seem  to  assume  that 
Adam  began  existence,  not  an  infant  in  the  normally 
helpless  condition  of  human  birth,  but  with  fully  de- 
veloped powers.  Beyond  this  we  look  in  vain  to  the 
record  for  light.  We  only  know  that  the  life-force — 
tliat  subtle  entity  which  always  eludes  the  most  vig- 
ilant search — which  distances  all  the  strides  of  scien- 
tific scrutiny — which  mocks  at  chemical  analysis  and 
never  comes  to  our  call ; — this  life-force  we  simply  know 
is  from  God  himself  and  from  God  alone.  The  original 
gift  of  it  is  his  prerogative  and  the  secret  thereof  is  for 
evermore  with  him. 

8.  In  the  passage — "  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness"  (v.  26)  there  are  two  special 
points  to  be  considered  : — (a.)  In  what  sense  is  man  made 


34  CREATION. 

in  the  image  of  God?  (b.)  The  cxphanation  of  the 
plural  pronouns,  "  us  "  and  ^'our  " — "  Let  us  make  man  in 
our  image." 

(a.)  inasmuch  as  God  is  a  spirit  and  never  to  be 
thought  of  as  having  a  corporeal  nature — material,  tan- 
gible to  our  bodily  senses,  we  are  at  once  shut  off  from 
all  reference  to  man's  physical,  corporeal  nature  and 
shut  up  to  his  spiritual  nature  to  find  in  it  the  points 
of  this  resemblance.  ConsegjwoailxJ^iaiLJi^^JiS;^.^^ 
God's  image  as  being  gifted  like  his  Maker  witlTTntel- 
ligence  and  with  capacities  for  moral  action — beyond 
comparison  the  noblest  possible  elements  of  being.  He 
has  the  sense  of  moral  obligation  and  the  voluntary 
powers  requisite  to  fulfill  such  obligation.  He  can  find 
his  supreme  joy  in  voluntarily  seeking  the  good  of  oth- 
ers, even  of  all  other  sentient  beings,  and  in  laboring 
even  to  the  extent  of  self-sacrifice  to  promote  their  wel- 
fare. This  is  the  pre-eminent  perfection  of  God — the 
very  point  ultimately  in  which  man  is  made  in  his 
image,  and  capable  of  becoming  more  and  more  God- 
like, forever  approximating  toward  his  holiness   and 

blessedness. His   intellectual   powers  are  onlj'-  the 

servants  of  these  highest  and  noblest  activities  of  his 
being.-:< — (b.)  The  use  of  the  plural  pronouns — "  Let  us 
make",  in  our  image" — has  been  accounted  for  vari- 
ously. Some  would  make  this  plural  intensive,  cor- 
responding to  the  emphatic  plural  in  Hebrew  nouns. 
But  there   seems  to  be   no   real   analogy  in  the  two 

cases. Some  make  it  the  plural  of  dignity  ("  pluralis 

excellentiae"),  as  an  oriental  monarch  puts  forth  his 
edict,  saying  "  we,"  not  I.  But  the  great  simplicity  of 
this  whole  narrative  goes  against  this  explanation. 
Moreover,  this  usage,  so  far  as  it  appears  in  literature, 
sacred  or  profane,  is  later  by  many  ages  than  Moses. 
Besides,  there  is  no  apparent  reason  why  God  should 
assume  more  dignity  in  saying — "  Let  us  make  man," 
than  in  saying.  Let  us  make  light,  or  the  sun  in  the 
heavens.  Indeed,  the  form  of  the  divine  behest — "  Let 
there  be  light,"  seems  to  our  ideas  the  more  sublime 

and  the  more  expressive  of  God's  supreme  dignity.- 

I  see  no  explanation  of  this  plural  that  is  at  all  satis- 
factory save  that  which  assumes  a  reference  to  the  per- 
sons of  the  Trinity.  As  one  reason  for  such  reference 
it  may  be  suggested  as  certainly  not  improbable — that 


MAN   MADE    IN   GOD's    IMAGE.  35 

the  idea  of  man,  God's  chief  Avork  in  creation,  was 
coupled  with  his  future  history  (all  present  to  the  di- 
vine mind) — as  fallen,  yet  also  as  redeemed,  and  specially 
as  redeemed  hy  means  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  in 
human  flesh.  Supposing  this  incarnation  present  to  the 
divine  thought,  the  significance  of  this  plural  would 
he — Let  us  proceed  to  make  in  our  own  image  this  won- 
derful being  whose  nature  the  eternal  Son  shall  one 
day  assume — this  man  who  is  to  bear  relations  to  us  so 
extraordinary,  so  wonderful  before  the  angels,  so  signal 
before  all  created  minds,  so  glorious  in  its  results  to  the 
whole  moral  universe !  Have  not  we — Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost — a  most  surpassing  interest  in  the  creation 
of  this  being,  man ! 

9.   The  relation  of  Gen.  2;  4-25  to  Gen.  1. 

Here  are  two  jioints  of  some  importance  to  be  consid- 
ered. 

(1.)  Are  the  two  passages  by  the  same  author? 

(2.)  Uo  they  both  speak  of  the  creation  of  the  same 
first  man,  i.  e.  the  same  Adam,  or  is  the  Adam  of  Gen. 
2  another  and  different  first  man,  brought  into  being 
long  subsequent  to  him  of  Gen.  1 :  26-28? 

(1.)  That  the  two  passages  are  from  different  authors 

has  been  maintained  on   the   following   grounds. 

(a.)  That  v.  4 — "  These  are  the  generations  *  of  the 
lieavens  and  the  earth" — appears  like  the  heading  of 

a  new  and  distinct  portion  of  history. But  nothing 

forbids  that  it  should  be  the  heading  of  a  new  section 
or  chapter  of  the  same  continuous  history  by  the  same 
author,  re.suming  his  subject  with  only  a  very  compre- 
hensive allusion  to  the  great  facts  of  creation  which  he 
had  given  in  chap.  1,  as  fully  as  his  plan  required. 
This  done  he  may  joroceed  to  a  more  full  account  of  the 
creation  of   man  and  the  events  of  his  early  history. 

(b.)  That  the  account  here  differs  somewhat  from 

that  in  Gen.  1,  e.  g.  as  to  the  creation  of  man,  and  yet 

more  especially,  the  creation  of  woman. But  these 

differences  are  not  discrepances  and  are  fully  accounted 
for  by  the  scope  and  design  of  this  portion,  viz.  to  give 
the  history  of  the  first  man  and  woman  in  much  more 

*The  word,  "generations,"  obtains  the  secondary  sense  of  fomily 
history  and  then  the  sense  of  history  in  general,  from  tlie  fact  that 
the  earliest  written  historical  records  were  so  largely  made  up  of 
genealogies— the  records  of  human  generations. 


3G  CREATION  :     KELATION    OF  GEN.  2  TO   GEN.  1. 

detail. (c.)  But  especially  this  diversity  of  authors 

has  been  argued  from  the  different  names  of  God  which 
appear  in  these  two  passages.  In  chap.  1  and  2:  1-3, 
the  name  is  simply  and  exclusively  God  (Elohim).  In 
chap.  2 :  4-25  and  in  chap.  3,  the  name  is  "  the  Lord 

God"  (Jehovah  Elohim). This  difference  is  hideed  a 

palpable  fact,  and  has  been  the  theme  of  an  indefinite 
amount  of  critical  speculation  based  for  the  most  part 
on  the  utterly  groundless  assumption  that  the  same 
author  can  not  be  supposed  to  have  used  both  these 
names  for  God.  Those  critics  (mostly  German)  who 
have  flooded  their  literature  with  disquisitions  on  this 
subject  assume  in  the  outset  that  none  but  a  "  Jehovist " 
ever  used  the  name  Jehovah,  and  none  but  an  "  Elo- 
hist,"  the  name  Elohim,  it  being  in  their  view  im- 
possible or  at  least  absurd  that  the  same  author  should 
use  sometimes  one  of  these  names  and  sometimes  the 
other — which  assumption  seems  to  me  supremely  arbi- 
trary, irrational,  and  uncritical.  Authors  now  use  at 
their  option  the  various  names  for  God,  either  for  the 
mere  sake  of  variety,  or  because  in  some  connections 
one  seems  more  euphonious  or  more  significant  than 
another.  Why  may  not  an  equal  license  of  choice  be 
accorded  to  Hebrew  writers  ?  It  is  unquestionable  that 
the  same  Hebrew  author  does  use  both  of  these  names 

for  God. They  made  far  more  account  than  we  of  the 

various  senses  of  the  several  names  for  the  Deity.  The 
names  Jehovah  and  Elohim,  were  not  precisely  iden- 
tical in  their  suggested  ideas,  although  both  are  legiti- 
mately used  of  the  one  true  God.  Elohim  suggests  that 
he  is  the  Exalted,  Eternal  One,  the  Infinite  Creator  of 
all.  This  name  is  therefore  specially  appropriate  in 
chap.  1.  "Jehovah"  conceives  of  him  as  the  Immu- 
table and  ever  faithful  One,  coming  into  covenant  rela- 
tion with  his  people  as  the  Maker  and  the  Fulfillcr  of 
promise.  (See  remarks  on  this  as  God's  memorial  name 
in  my  Notes  on  Hos.  12 :  5).  Hence  as  the  narrative 
in  Gen.  2  and  3  brings  God  before  the  mind  in  these 
special  relations  to  the  first  human  pair  and  to  the  race, 
this  name  is  here  specially  appropriate.  But  lest  some 
might  suppose  that  this  Jehovah  is  thought  of  as  an- 
other God  than  the  Elohim  of  chap.  1 — the  writer  uses 
both  names — the  Elohim  who  is   also  Jehovah  to  his 


creation:   relation  of  gen.  2  to  gen.  1.  37 

rational  creature  man  and  especially  to  all  his  obedient 
trustful  people. 

(2.)  That  Gen.  2 :  7  relates  to  the  creation  of  the 
same  first  man  as  Gen.  1 :  26-28,  and  not  of  another  man 
ages  later,  seems  to  me  to  admit  of  no  rational  doubt. 
The  inducements  to  make  out  two  distinct  creations, 
i.  e.  of  two  different  first  men,  eome  from  the  supposed 
proof  of  the  existence  of  man  on  the  earth  ages  before 
the  Adam  of  antediluvian  history.  I  propose  to  treat 
below  this  question  of  the  antiquity  of  man.  Let  it  suf- 
fice here  to  say  that  wc  must  not  mutilate  the  record 
or  disregard  the  laws  of  philology  for  the  sake  of  making 
the  sacred  narrative  conform  to  theories  which  are  yet 

rather  assumptions  than  scientifically  proven  facts. 

As  to  the  correspondences  and  variations  in  the  two 
narratives  of  the  creation  of  man,  the  first  makes  prom- 
inent his  being  created  in  the  image  of  God :  the  sec- 
ond assumes  this  in  the  fact  that  God  gave  him  law 
in  Eden ;  in  the  knowledge  of  the  lower  animals  which 
his  naming  them  assumes ;  in  the  superior  dignity 
which  the  Lord's  bringing  them  before  him  for  names 
implies ;  and  in  the  fact  that  among  them  all  no  help- 
meet for  him  could  be  found.     His  nature  ranked  far 

above  theirs. The  earlier  narrative  says  briefly  that 

God  "  created  them  male  and  female."  The  later  one 
expands  this  fact  much  more  fully  and  makes  it  the 
foundation  for  the  law  of  marriage.  The  later  record 
treats  with  the  utmost  brevity  the  main  part  of  the  six 
days'  work  and  must  have  been  Avritten  with  the  pre- 
vious record  before  the  mind,  to  be  a  supplementary  and 
continuative  history,  designed  to  bring  out  prominently 
the  creation  of  woman  and  the  scenes  of  the  garden,  its 
moral  trial  and  ultimately  its  results. The  supposi- 
tion of  a  different  Adam  from  that  of  the  former  recoid 
could  never  have  occurred  to  the  Hebrew  mind,  and 
therefore  can  not  be  accej^ted  as  the  sense  of  the  j^as- 
sage. 

10.  Invariability  of  "  Icind  "  in  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms. 

The  record  in  Genesis  sets  forth  that  God  created 
grass,  herb,  and  then  fruit  tree;  "each  after  his  kind;" 
also  reptiles,  fish,  fowl  and  land-animals,  each  "  after 
his  kind ; "  and  finally  man  "  in  the  image  of  God." 
Over  against  this  the  modern  theory  which  bears  the 


38  CREATION  :   dauwin's  theory. 

name  of  Darwin  holds  that  all  the  animals  of  our  globe 
"  have  descended  from  at  most  only  four  or  five  pro- 
genitors, and  plants  from  an  equal  or  lesser  number ; "  -^ 
and  moreover,  that  man  has  in  this  respect  no  pre-em- 
inence above  the  beasts,  but  has  descended  in  the  same 
line  with  them  from  some  one  of  the  four  or  five  pro- 
genitors of  the  great  animal  kingdom.  More  still  he 
says  in  the  same  connection — "  Analogy  would  lead  me 
one  step  further,  viz.  to  the  belief  that  all  animals  and 

plants  have  descended  from  some  one  prototype." 

These  four  or  five  progenitors  of  the  whole  animal  king- 
dom correspond  substantially  with  what  Webster  calls 
the  five  sub-kingdoms,  viz.  Vertebrates,  Articulates,. 
MoUusks,  Kadiates,  and  Protozoans.  The  technical 
classification  under  these  sub-kingdoms  into  Classes, 
Orders,  Families,  Genera,  and  Species  becomes  of  little 
or  no  account  in  any  discussion  of  Darwin's  system,  for 
his  theory  of  "  descent  with  modifications  "  is  reckless 
of  all  these  lines  of  demarkation,  traveling  over  and 
through  them  all  without  finding  the  least  obstruction. 

Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  therefore  that  though 

Mr.  Darwin  makes  frequent  use  of  the  word  "  species," 
and  entitles  one  of  his  volumes — "  The  Origin  of  Species," 
5'et  his  theory  takes  a  far  wider  range  than  the  question 
whether  "species  are  variable."  In  his  view  not  only 
are  species  variable,  intermixing  at  will  and  passing 
from  one  into  another,  but  genera  also  and  families  and 
orders  and  classes — not  to  say  also  each  of  the  great 
sub-kingdoms  of  the  animal  world  ;  f  even  the  distinc- 
tion between  animals  and  vegetables  fades  aw^ay  under 
his  analogical  argument.  Hence  the  issue  between  Dar- 
win and  Moses  is  relieved  of  whatever  uncertainty  hangs 

'•'■Darwin's  Origin  of  Species,  p.  420, 

t  "  The  Qiiadrumanaand  all  the  higher  nianmuilsare  probably  de- 
rived from  an  ancient  marsupial  animal,  and  this,  through  a  long 
line  of  diversified  forms,  either  from  some  reptile-like  or  some  am- 
phibian-like creature,  and  this  again  from  some  fish-like  animal. 
In  the  dim  obscurity  of  the  past  we  can  see  that  the  early  progeni- 
tor of  all  the  vertebratre  must  have  been  an  aquatic  animal,  pro- 
vided with  branchire  [gills]  with  the  two  sexes  united  in  the  same 
individual,  and  with  tlie  most  important  organs  of  the  body  (such 
as  the  brain  and  the  heart)  imperfectly  developed.  This  animal 
seems  to  have  been  more  like  the  larvaj  of  our  existing  marine  Ae- 
cidians  tiian  anv  other  known  form."  Darwin's  Descent  of  JMan, 
vol.  2,  372. 


CREATION  :  Darwin's  theory.  39 

over  the  dividing  line  between  species  and  varieties, 
and  may  fitly  be  limited  to  these  two  points;  the  in- 
variability of  ''kind"  in  the  sense  of  Moses  in  Genesis; 
and  the  distinct  origination  of  man. 

Under  Mr.  Darwin's  system  "community  of  descent" 
and  not  "  some  unknown  plan  of  creation  "  is  "  the  hid- 
den bond"  which  unites  together  all  living  existences 
of  our  globe.  "  Looking  to  some  unknown  plan  of  crea- 
tion" (in  his  own  words)  has  prevented  the  truly  scien- 
tific classification  and  history  of  the  forms  of  life  in  our 
world.     The  Bible  has  stood  in  the  way  of  the  growth 

of  science. Under  his  system  the  changes  by  natural 

descent  from  any  given  parent  to-  its  offspring,  taken 
individually,  have  been  exceedingly  small.  Hence  the 
theory  requires  an  indefinitely  long  time  from  the  point 
of  the  original  creation  of  the  four  or  five  jjrimordial 
forms  to  the  present  status  of  living  things,  vegetable 

and  animal,  in  our  world. The  above  remarks  will 

suffice  for  a  very  general  iiltroduction  to  Mr.  Darwin's 
system. 

Wishing  to  bring  this  discussion  within  the  narrow- 
est possible  limits  and  yet  do  justice  to  Darwin,  to  Gen- 
esis, and  to  the  truth,  I  propose  to  state  briefly  his  main 
arguments ;  then  comprehensively  my  rejoinder  to  them 
severally  in  their  order,  and  then  subjoin  some  general 
considerations  bearing  upon  his  entire  theory. 

1.  Darwin  holds  that  by  natural  law  the  offspring 
vary,  though  slightly,  from  the  parent,  and  hence,  that, 
given  an  indefinitely  long  time,  he  has  any  desired 
amount  of  variation. 

2.  When  animals  multiply  beyond  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence, there  ensues  a  struggle  for  life  in  which  the 
strongest  and  most  favored  in  circumstances  are  the 
victors  and  survive.  This  law  which  he  calls  "  Nat- 
ural Selection  "  (or  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest ")  works 
a  gradual  improvement  in  the  race.  A  twin  argument 
with  this  comes  from  "sexual  selection,"  the  amount 
of  which  is  that  in  the  case  of. some  at  least  of  the  ani- 
mal races,  there  arises  a  struggle  among  the  males  for 
the  possession  of  the  females,  in  which  struggle  the 
most  attractive  in  beauty  or  in  song,  or  the  champions 
in  fight,  being  the  victors,  perpetuate  the  race  and  thus 
im])rove  it.  This  law  of  the  animal  races  ("sexual  se- 
b'ction")  works  precisely  in  the  same  line  with  the  law 

3 


40  creation:  darwin's  theory. 

called  "natural  selection."  It  may  serve  therefore  to 
provide  a  little  more  of  the  same  thing,  but  no  new  or 
different  product  whatever.  Hence  it  does  not  seem  to 
call  for  a  distinct  refutation. 

3.  Homologous  anatomical  structure  is  found  to  cb- 
tain  very  extensively  among  widely  diverse  races,  e.  g. 
in  the  arm  of  man,  the  fore-leg  of  the  monkey  and  in- 
deed of  all  quadrupeds,  in  the  wing  of  the  bird  and  the 
fin  of  the  fish.     This  indicates  a  common  parentage. 

4.  Some  animals  which,  fully  grown,  differ  from  each 
other  widely,  are  scarcely  distinguishable  in  the  em- 
bryo.    Hence  he  infers  their  common  origin. 

5.  The  fact  of  rudimentary  organs  is  assumed  to  be 
historic,  proving  that  some  ancient  progenitor  used  them, 
and  that  they  have  gradually  passed  out  of  use.  This 
is  held  to  prove  that  great  changes  of  structure  come  of 
genealogical  descent. 

BRIEF  .REPLIES. 

1.  To  Darwin's  first  law,  viz.  that  the  offspring  al- 
ways vary  though  slightly  from  the  parent,  and  there- 
fore, given  indefinite  time,  he  has  any  desired  amount 
of  variation,  I  reply  that  this  law  of  variation  becomes 
practically  worthless  for  his  theory,  because  these  vari- 
ations from  parent  to  offspring  run  in  all  conceivable 
directions  and  not  in  the  one  definite  direction  required 
for  his  purpose,  i.  e.  toward  a  higher  grade  of  perfection, 
or  [which  his  argument  requires]  toward  a  new  form  of 
animal  life.  For  example,  there  is  always  some  change 
in  the  human  countenance  from  parent  to  child.  Yet 
who  does  not  know  that  those  changes  run  in  every 
possible  direction  and  not  in  one  uniform  line  of  prog- 
ress or  advance,  as  from  monkey  toward  man  and  from 
man  toward  angel?  For  another  example  we  may  take 
the  shape  of  the  skull  and  of  the  brain — evermore  dif- 
fering slightly  from  parent  to  offspring  yet  not  by  any 
means  on  one  given  line.  The  skulls  of  Egyptian 
mummies  entombed  three  thousand  years  ago  do  not  differ 
appreciably  from  those  of  the  Copts  (their  lineal  descend- 
ants) of  to-day,  i.  e.  are  no  more  pithecoid — ape-like. 
On  Darwin's  theory  three  thousand  years  backward 
ought  surely  to  approximate  toward  the  ape ;  otherwise 
these  variations  are  fruitless.  This  law  of  successive 
genealogical  changes  amounts  to  nothing  for  his  argu- 


creation:  darwin's  theory.  41 

ment  unless  the  changes  consent  to  come  into  line  so  that 
their  results  shall  actually  accumulate  with  the  lapse  of 
ages.  The  fatal  lack  in  the  argument  is — no  husbandry 
of  these  infinitesimal  changes — not  the  least  perceiva- 
ble accumulation. 

A  second  brancli  of  my  reply  suggests  that  Mr.  Dar- 
win mkinterprets  this  law  of  nature,  viz.  perpetual  vari- 
ation from  parent  to  offspring.  It  is  doubtless  a  law, 
but  Darwin  has  quite  missed  its  divinely  ordained  pur- 
pose— which  is  to  indicate  the  relationship  between 
parent  and  child  on  the  one  hand,  and  yet  maintain 
individual  identity  on  the  other.  The  resemblances 
answer  the  former  purpose ;  the  differences,  the  latter. 
Beings  constituted  to  bear  personal  responsibilities  so 
momentous  as  those  of  man  must  be  so  organized  that 
every  one  can  identify  his  own  individuality,  lest  one 
man  be  hung  for  some  other  man's  crime. 

2.  His  second  argument  comes  from  the  law  of  "  nat- 
ural selection"— "the  survival  of  the  fittest "—Avith 
which  it  is  convenient  to  couple  the  precisely  similar 
law  of  "  sexual  selection  " — the  ascendency  of  the  smart- 
est over  their  inferiors,  to  perpetuate  the  race.  Here  a 
specific  case  will  suffice  both  to  illustrate  and  to  refute. 
The  principle  of  "natural  selection"  has  a  fair 
chance  for  itself  in  the  spawn  of  the  shad.  It  is  no 
doubt  true  that  none  but  the  smartest  out  of  the  many 
thousand  spawned  at  once  survive  so  as  to  become 
parents  in  their  turn.  Yet  who  believes  that  these 
smartest  shad  are  becoming  sturgeon  or  sharks  or 
whales  by  this  law  of  progress?  Are  they  actually 
found  to  be  any  thing  but  shad  after  never  so  many 
hundred  generations?  It  may  seem  superfluous  to 
push  the  still  more  pertinent  question — Are  these 
smartest  and  most  ambitious  shad  really  found  to  be 
working  up  out  of  their  watery  element,  i.  e.  working 
up  into  ducks  or  geese,  or  into  blackbirds  and  crows? 
For  just  this  is  Mr.  Darwin's  theory — the  line  of  ascent 
running  up  from  fish  to  fowl ;  from  fowl  to  mammal  and 
so  on  up  to  man.  The  questions  here  suggested  are 
therefore  only  the  fair  and  scientific  test  and  touchstone 
of  liis  argument.  A  law  which  lias  not  made  its  re- 
sults even  perceptible  since  the  birth  of  the  first  shad 
known  to  human  history  must  bo  regarded  as  scien- 
tifically worthless. 


42  creation:  darwin's  theory. 

My  second  remark  here  is  that  Darwin  errs  not  in 
finding  these  to  be  laws  of  nature — "  natural  selection," 
"sexual  selection" — but  in  interpreting  them,  i.  e.  in 
detecting  their  clivifiely  ordained  design  and  their  actual 
working  and  product.  I  suggest  that  these  laws,  appar- 
ently made  for  the  improvement  of  races,  may  be  req- 
uisite to  enable  them  to  hold  their  own  against  the 
ever  present  tendency  to  degeneracy.  Life  is  a  perpet- 
ual struggle  against  death.  The  life-principle  finds  an 
antagonist  force  in  chemical  law  which  is  evermore 
hunting  organized  matter  back  to  its  inorganic  state. 
Still  further,  be  it  considered,  races  excessively  prolific 
would  rapidly  lose  vitality  but  for  these  laws  of  natural 
and  sexual  selection.  We  may  therefore  rationally  as- 
sume that  these  laws  are  simply  forms  of  the  general 
principle  oi  self-2:)rescrvation,  and  not  a  purposed  provision 
for  lifting  a  lower  race  up  to  the  plane  of  a  higher. 

3.  As  to  homologous  anatomical  structure,  e.  g.  of  the 
arm,  fore-leg,  wing,  fin,  paddle — there  are  abundant 
reasons  for  its  existence  aside  from  the  assumption  of 
Darwin  that  it  proves  a  common  ancestry  for  man, 
monkey,  calf,  bull-dog,  eagle,  toad  and  whale.  The 
ball  and  socket  joint  at  man's  shoulder  is  the  perfect 
thing  for  use.  Equally  so  is  the  same  kind  of  joint  for 
the  fore-leg  of  a  horse,  the  wing  of  an  eagle  or  the  fin  of 
a  fish.  God  made  the  anatomy  of  man's  arm  perfect. 
What  forbids  that  he  should  make  an  equally  perfect 
machinery  for  the  motions  and  various  uses  of  other  an- 
imals? The  reason  of  this  uniformly  perfect  ma- 
chinery is  found  in  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  the 
Great  Maker,  and  proves  nothing  in  favor  of  a  common 
descent  from  some  one  parent,  i.  e.  it  proves  nothing 
unless  you  may  assume  that  God  could  not  have  made 
two  kinds  of  animals  with  homologous  anatomical 
structures — two  kinds,  each  with  machinery  perfect  for 
its  purposes. 

4.  As  to  the  similar  appearance  of  the  embryo  in 
very  dissimilar  races,  there  may  be  differences  in  the 
embryo  which  no  microscope  and  no  human  test  have 
yet  discovered.  The  force  of  this  argument  seems  to  me 
to  come  rather  from  ignorance  than  from  knowledge. 

5.  As  to  rudimentary  organs,  their  history  is  very 
obscure  and  their  design  also.  I  suggest  that  Mr.  Dar- 
win begin  with  the  history  and  the  reason  for  the  ru- 


CPvEATION  :    BAinvm's   TIIEOIJV.  43 

dimentar}'  organs  which  appear  on  the  bosom  of  the 
male  in  the  species  man.  When  he  shall  have  mas- 
ter-ed  this  problem — the  history  and  the  reason — we  can 
aftbrd  to  consider  his  argument  therefrom  in  proof  that 
man  has  a  common  ancestry  Avith  whatsoever  other  an- 
imal he  may  find  having  this  male  organ,  not  rudi- 
mentary but  in  full  activity.  Probably  he  will  prove 
that  man  must  have  come  down  by  descent  from  that 
class  of  animals  which  economically  combine  the  two 
sexes  in  one  and  the  same  individual ! 

Some  objections  of  a  more  general  hearing  upon  Darwiii's 
scheme. 

1.  His  system  requires  indefinite,  almost  infinite, 
ages  of  time  back  of  the  Silurian  strata,  i.  e.  back  of  the 
oldest  known  remains  of  life,  vegetable  or  animal,  on 
our  globe.-'^  That  is,  he  requires  for  the  development 
of  his  system  an  almost  infinite  extension  of  time  back 
bej^ond  the  earliest  traces  or  proofs  of  life,  vegetable  or 
animal,  on  our  globe.  And  this,  he  would  have  men 
believe,  is  the  perfection  of  modern  Science ! — a  science 
which  pushes  its  sphere  in  time  back  indefinitely  be- 
yond all  known  facts  upon  the  bare  evidence  of  the- 
ories and  assumed  analogies! But  even  this  gives 

not  the  full  force  of  the  objection  made  by  true  Science 
to  his  system.  It  is  not  merely  that  he  builds  upon  as- 
sumed facts  where  no  known  facts  are — which  is  build- 
ing upon  nothing — but  where  no  facts  can  he,  which  is 
building  not  merely  upon  negatives  but  upon  impossi- 
l)ilities.  There  is  no  room  for  his  assumed  facts  where 
he  locates  them.  If  Geology  proves  any  thing  it  proves 
that  vegetable  and  animal  life  commenced  on  our  planet 
as  soon  as  the  planet  was  ready  and  not  sooner,  and  that 
we  have  the  remains  of  the  earliest  living  organisms  in 
the  oldest  fossil-bearing  rocks.  His  scheme  is  therefore 
conditioned  upon  imj^ossibilities  and  must  be  false. 

2.  His  system  requii'es  a  close  succession  of  animal 
races,  differing  from  parent  to  offspring  by  only  the 

*"If  my  theory  be  true,  it  is  indisputable  that  before  the  lowest 
Silurian  stratum  was  deposited,  long  periods  must  have  elapsed,  as 
long  as,  or  probably  far  longer  than,  the  whole  interval,  from  the 
Silurian  age  to  the  present  day;  and  that,  during  these  vast  yet 
quite  unknown  periods  of  time,  the  world  swarmed  with  living 
creatures."     Darwin's  Origin  of  Species,  p.  269. 


44  ceeation:  darwin's  theoky. 

least  possible  amount,  with  no  leaps,  no  gaps  whatever. 
Thus  from  monkey  up  to  man  the  system  calls  for  at 
least  a  few  scores  not  to  say  hundreds  of  intermediate 
links.  Where  are  they?  His  suflering  theory  cries 
out  for  their  support:  there  is  no  answer.  The  earth's 
surface  responds  not  to  the  call;  even  "the  depths 
say — They  are  not  in  me  !  "  From  the  original  monad 
up  to  man  all  the  way  through  at  least  the  long  line  of 
the  vertebrates — reptile,  fish,  bird,  mammal — that  is  to 
say,  through  the  serpent  tribe;  the  fish  kingdom;  the 
swallow,  blackbird  and  eagle,  and  especially  through 
the  quadruped  family — the  horse  and  camel  and  partic- 
ularly the  monkey  household — through  all  this  remark- 
able line  of  ancestry,  Darwin's  system  demands  a  very 
gradual  upward  march  by  the  shortest  possible  stages 
of  progress,  so  that  the  intermediate  links  must  be 
barely  less  than  infinite.  It  certainly  ought  to  be  very 
easy  to  trace  a  genealogical  line  so  well  represented. 
It  is  estimated  that  thirty  thousand  fossil  sj)ecies  have 
been  recognized.  How  many  of  these  can  be  formed 
into  this  genealogical  line  from  the  aboriginal  verte- 
brate— supposed  to  be  aquatic  and  Ascidian — up  to 
man?  Has  Mr.  Darwin  set  himself  to  marshal  this 
proof-line  of  witnesses  to  hiss3'stem?  No.  Not  only 
has  he  not  done  this  very  appropriate  thing,  but  he  has 
said  little,  quite  too  little  on  this  most  vital  point,  in 
the  way  of  showing  what  could  be  done.  He  reiterates 
that  the  geological  records  are  very  imperfect.  Doubt- 
less they  quite  fail  to  come  up  to  meet  the  demands  of 
his  system.  It  is  the  fatal  weakness  of  his  theory  that 
just  where  it  should  find  facts  in  animal  history  for  its 
support,  they  are  not  there !  He  himself  admits  that 
if  you  believe  in  a  tolerably  full  showing  of  animal  his- 
tory in  the  geological  records  of  our  globe,  you  must 
disbelieve  his  system.*  He  needs  quite  another  geo- 
logical record  for  his  proofs. 

*  These  are  his  words — "  Why  then  is  not  every  geological  forma- 
tion and  every  stratum  full  of  such  intermediate  links?  Geology 
assuredly  does  no*^  reveal  any  such  finely  graduated  organic  chain  ; 
and  this  perhaps  is  the  most  obvious  and  gravest  objection  wliich 
can  be  urged  against  my  theory.     The  explanation  lies  as  I  believe 

in  the  extreme  imperfection  of  the  geological   records." And 

again — "  He  who  rejects  these  views  on  the  nature  [t.  e.  the  de- 
fects] of  the  geological  record  will  rightly  reject  my  whole  theory. 


CREATION :  Darwin's  theory.  ^     45 

3.  His  argument  is  essentially  materialistic.  In  his 
reasonings  and  assumiDtions,  all  there  is  of  mind  in 
man  or  any  animal  is  of  the  brain  and  the  nervous  or- 
ganism. All  animals  have  wants  and  are  moved  by  a 
sense  of  want  to  supply  them.  This  begets  self-orig- 
inated activity,  and  this  activity  involves  thought — 
yet  only  as  a  function  of  the  material  brain.  Most  of 
the  animals  are  social  by  nature:  hence  another  mem- 
ber in  this  family  of  wants  and  enjoyments,  begetting 
another  class  of  impulses  and  activities.  But  whether 
it  be  man  or  monkey,  dog  or  kitten,  these  activities 
and  these  plans  and  thouglits  underlying  them,  come  of 
the  nervous  organism,  of  which  the  brain  is  the  center. 
On  his  theory  and  in  his  words  (Origin  of  Species,  pp. 
93,  94)  "  the  moral  sense  is  fundamentally  identical 
with  the  social  instinct."  Hence  it  becomes  the  burden 
of  his  argument  that  the  brain  in  man  and  in  monkey 
is  homologous — almost  perfectly  the  same  in  shape,  in 
quality,  and  in  its  bony  incasement.  He  seems  to  be 
quite  unaware  that  there  may  be  something  in  the  hu- 
man brain  that  a  twelve-inch  rule  will  not  measure, 
nor  the  nicest  made  scales  weigh,  nor  the  sharpest 
chemical  tests  discern.  It  seems  never  to  have  occurred 
to  him  that  even  if  the  brain  of  man  and  of  monkey 
weighed  in  the  same  notch,  fitted  into  the  same  cast, 
responded  alike  to  the  same  chemical  tests  (which, 
however,  is  a  good  way  from  being  the  case),  yet  there 
might  be  material  qualities  in  the  human  brain  too 
subtle  and  ethereal  to  be  appreciable  under  any  known 
physical  test;  and  much  more  still  might  be  a  spirit 
inhabiting  the  human  brain  and  working  through  it 
which  the  monkey  has  not.  "  That  the  breath  of  the 
Almighty  hath  given  to  man  understanding  "  is  a  fact 
higher  than  the  range  of  Darwin's  philosophy.  The 
prima  facie  probability  thence  arising  that  God  would 
fit  up  a  special  material  organism  for  the  one  only 
mind  made  in  his  own  image  seems  to  have  entirely 
escaped  Mr.  Darwin's  notice.     The  record  by  Moses  on 

For  he  may  ask  in  vain:  Where  are  the  numberless  transitional 
links  which  must  formerly  have  connected  the  closely  allied  or 
representative  species  found  in  the  several  stages  of  the  great  forma- 
tions? lie  may  ask,  Where  are  the  remains  of  those  numerous  or- 
ganisms which  must  have  existed  long  before  the  first  bed  of  tlie 
.Silurian  system  was  deposited?"     Origin  of  Species,  pp.  216,  299. 


46     4f  CREATION :  Darwin's  theory. 

this  point — that  God  created  man  by  a  special  act,  en- 
tirely independent  of  all  other  forms  of  life,  vegetable 
or  animal,  commends  itself  to  the  good  sense  of  most 
men  as  more  than  probable,  as  indeed  supremely  ra- 
tional and  unquestionably  true. 

4.  It  is  but  a  natural  result  of  his  materialistic  sys- 
tem that  he  should  have  no  adequate  conception  of  the 
pre-eminent  glory  of  omul's  intellectual  and  moral  nature. 
With  great  ingenuity  he  labors  to  make  it  appear  that 
Tray  feels  shame  and  guilt  and  even  the  moral  sense 
of  oughtness — all  the  same  in  kind  with  those  of  man. 
He  does  not  say  in  definite  Avords  that  the  best  devel- 
oped dog  is  capable  of  knowing  his  divine  Creator  and 
of  rendering  to  Him  the  obedience,  love,  and  homage  of 
an  adoring  heart — is  capable  of  becoming  consciously  a 
trustful  child  of  God  and  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  does  not  quite  say  this ;  indeed  he  does  not  seem  to 
appreciate  these  exalted  functions  of  a  soul  made 
in  God's  image,  or  to  think  them  worthy  of  par- 
ticular notice.  It  is  a  capital  fault  in  his  reasoning 
that  he  ignores  almost  entirely  these  highest,  noblest 
activities  of  man's  nature.  Thus  ignoring  these  most 
vital  points  which  lift  man  so  high  above  all  the  lower 
animals,  how  can  it  be  expected  that  his  reasoning 
upon  the  material  relations  of  man  and  beast  should  be 
otherwise  than  lame  and  fcillacious? 

5.  Scientifically  it  is  a  sufficient  condemnation  of  this 
system  that  it  is  compelled  to  fritter  away  the  funda- 
mental law  of  species  which  God  fixed,  not  upon  its 
surface  but  deep  in  its  nature,  viz.  that  hybrids  shall 
be  infertile — incapable  of  propagation.  The  crossing 
and  consequent  interblending  of  distinct  species,  gen- 
era, families,  and  orders,  if  by  their  nature  possible, 
would  long  ages  ago  have  thrown  the  animal  world  into 
inextricable  confusion,  efflicing  every  line  of  distinction. 
Such  a  result  must  have  been  simply  fatal  to  all  scien- 
tific classification.  If  Mr.  Darwin's  theories  had  been 
taken  as  the  divine  plan,  the  world  would  have  had 
more  grades  and  orders  of  animal  life  than  there  have 
been  days  since  the  first  monad  came  into  being. 

6.  The  scheme  is  in  many  points  revolting  to  the 
common  sense  and  sober  convictions  of  men.  Some  of 
its  assumptions  lie  close  upon  the  border  of  the  ridicu- 
lous.    Think  of  the  stride  upward  from  vegetable  life 


CREATION  :  Darwin's  theory.  47 

to  animal — the  plant  pulling  its  roots  out  frqm  the  soil 
and  beginning  to  use  them  for  legs !  And  of  the  very 
analogous  aspirations  and  endeavors  of  the  fish  to  live 
out  of  water — to  push  out  his  fins  into  wings ;  convert 
his  superabundant  fat  into  muscle ;  expand  his  lungs 
and  soar  off  in  mid-heaven — the  very  eagle  himself! 
The  effort  to  tone  down  these  absurdities  within  the 
limits  of  sober  sense  by  simply  taking  it  little  by  little, 
spreading  the  change  over  a  lew  thousands  or  millions 
of  years  and  subdividing  the  Avork  among  a  vast  num- 
ber of  generations  may  help  to  confuse  some  minds  and 
blunt  the  edge  of  its  absurdity ;  but  soberly  considered, 
the  absurdity  is  still  there.  Hence  we  may  note  the 
fact  that  most  writers  seem  to  find  themselves  quite 
unable  to  discuss  this  theory  to  any  extent  without 
sliding,  perhaps  unconsciously,  from  sober  argument 
into  ridicule  and  irony. 

Tam  well  aware  that,  to  abate  if  not  nullify  the  force 
of  this  apparent  absurdity,  it  will  be  said  that  along  the 
actual  line  between  plant  life  and  animal  life,  the  veg- 
etable and  animal  kingdoms  are  actually  brought  closely 
side  by  side ;  that  plant  life  shades  ofi:'  by  almost  imper- 
ceptible stages  till  it  comes  so  near  to  the  lowest  forms 
of  animal  life  that  the  dividing  line  is  scarcely  if  at  all 
perceptible.  This  fact  no  scientist  disputes.  The  real 
question  turns  upon  its  purposed  object  or  ultimate 
reason.  Is  it,  as  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  assumes,  to  bridge 
over  this  dividing  line  and  facilitate  the  march  of  "gen- 
ealogical descent  with  variations "  across  what  else 
would  be  a  bad  if  not  an  impassable  gulf? 

This  being  the  claim  set  up  by  Mr.  Darwin,  I  answer — 
(a.)  The  proper  test  of  this  theory  is  simple  :  Is  there 
any  ^^viai-ch"  here  at  all — i.e.  any  progrcsdve  movement 
from  one  form  of  vegetable  life  to  another,  from  lower 
forms  to  higher,  or  as  this  case  seems  to  demand,  from 
higher  forms  to  lower,  for  along  this  dividing  line  we 
have  the  lowest  known  forms  of  both  vegetable  life  and 
animal?  Is  this  army  of  the  lowest  vegetable  species 
and  of  animal  life-forms,  down  in  this  dark  microscopic 
valley,  really  on  tlie  march,  or  is  it  absolutely  moveless 
and  fixed  ?  Are  the  flora  on  the  vegetable  side  of  the 
line  really  dolHng  their  plant-life  uniform  and  regalia, 
and  emerging  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  into  fauna 
to  swell  the  hosts  of  animal-life  forms?     This  it  would 


48  CREATION :  Darwin's  theory. 

seem  must  be  the  test  for  the  proof  or  disproof  of  Dar- 
win's theor3^ 

(b.)  But  again,  I  would  reply  in  this  as  in  other 
points;  Mr.  Darwin  misses  not  so  much  the  facts  of 
nature  as  the  ultimate  reason  of  those  facts.  What 
is  the  ultimate  reason  for  the  remarkable  fact  that 
the  plant  kingdom  crowds  itself  so  closely  upon  the 
confines  of  the  animal  ?  Not,  I  answer,  to  facilitate  the 
transit  of  generations  from  the  one  province  to  the 
other.  Of  such  transit  there  is  not  the  first  shade  of 
evidence.  But  the  reason  is  that  the  Great  Author  of 
nature  out  of  his  infinite  resources  has  filled  both  king- 
doms perfectly  full  of  life-forms  so  that  no  territory  between 
their  respective  domains  lies  unoccupied.  It  is  simply 
a  fecundity  of  life-forms  or  species,  analogous  to  the 
fecundity  of  living  representatives  under  most  of  these 
species — all  alike  traceable  to  the  infinite  resources  of 
the  Creator's  wisdom  and  power. 

7.  Finally,  this  theory  is  reckless  of  the  authority  of 
revelation.  It  makes  no  efibrt  to  reconcile  its  doctrines 
with  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures.  Especially  on 
the  great  points  of  the  creation  of  man — as  to  his  body, 
independent  of  all  other  animals  ;  as  to  his  spirit,  made 
in  the  very  image  of  God;  and  as  to  woman,  formed 
from  man — this  sj^stem  stands  in  absolute  antagonism 

with  God's  word. It  should  not  surprise  us,  therefore, 

that  the  common  sense  of  mankind  (with  rare  excep- 
tions) revolts  from  its  absurdities.  It  should  not  sur- 
prise us  that  Science — the  true  Science  which  builds, 
not  on  unsupported  assumptions  but  on  ascertained  and 
incontestable  facts — should  disown  these  theories  and 
speculations.  True  Science,  here  as  elsewhere,  now  and 
forever,  is  at  one  with  Revelation;  and  these  pillars  of 
the  great  temple  of  Truth  are  in  not  the  least  danger 
of  being  shaken. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN. 

Under  this  head  several  questions  arise  : 

1.  Is  tlie  human  family  older  than  the  Adam  of  Scripture 
history  ? 

2.  How  far  back  really  is  the  date  of  Adamf  i.  e.  How 
many  years  intervened  from  Adam  to  the  flood  and 
how  many  to  the  Christian  era? 

Subsidiary  questions  are — 

(a.)  Were  there  one  or  more  races  of  primevah  men 
pre-Adamic  but  now  extinct? 

(b.)  Have  there  been  various  "  head-centers''^  of  the  ex- 
isting human  family;  or  only  one  and  that  Adam?  Or 
(the  same  question  in  another  form)  are  all  the  living 
varieties  of  race  lineally  descended  from  Adam  and  all 
from  Noah? 

The  special  interest  of  these  questions  will  hinge 
upon  their  relation  to  the  Scriptures — i.  e.  their  sup- 
posed or  real  bearing  upon  the  truth  of  the  Scripture 
history — the  friends  of  the  Bible  desiring  to  know 
whether  any  well  sustained  facts  exist  to  aflect  its 
credit,  or  to  modify  its  currently  received  interpreta- 
tion :  and  on  the  other  hand,  men  whose  sympa- 
thies are  not  with  the  Bible,  being  inquisitive  to  see 
if  by  any  means  its  authority  can  be  impugned  or  im- 
paired.  It  is  obvious  that  this  sort  of  special  inter- 
est, for  or  against  the  Bible,  is  liable  to  aflect  the  can- 
dor and  fairness  of  the  investigation  on  either  side. 
The  friends  of  the  Bible,  however,  have  really  not  tlie 
least  occasion  to  fear  for  its  stability.  It  is  indeed  pos- 
sible that  our  interpretation  of  its  chronology  may  re- 
quire modification — but  always  and  only  toward  truth. 
Also  we  may  have  erred  in  supposing  the  Bible  to  have 
taught  what  it  never  intended  to  teach.  But  the  real 
word  of  God  can  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  advance 
of  human  science — that  is  to  say,  from  the  real  knowl- 
edge of  actual   facts. ^Vith  the  utmost  composure, 

therefore,  we  welcome  all  candid  investigation,  subject- 
ing every  new  theory  to  appropriate  scrutiny,  sifting 

(49) 


50  ANTIQUITY    OF    MAN. 

the  evidence  on  which  it  rests  with  no  prejudice  for  or 
against  tlie  conclusions  to  which  it  may  compel  us. 

1.  The  high  antiquity  claimed  for  man  is  iitly  the  first 
question  in  order.  Here  the  evidence  comes  and  of 
necessity  must  come 

(1.)  From  traces  of  man  upon  the  crust  of  the  earth, 
i.  e.  in  the  rock-strata,  the  drift-deposits,  or  in  caves 
and  lake-dwellings,  or  in  monuments  of  human  labor 
and  skill : 

And  (2.)  from  the  traditions  of  the  most  ancient  na- 
tions and  the  high  antiquity  of  their  existence,  civili- 
zation, and  monuments. 
■  Under  the  first  head  the  traces  are  either : 

(A.)  Remains  of  the  human  skeleton;  or 

(B.)  Remains  of  man's  icork  and  of  his  tools. 

(A.)  As  to  the  remains  of  the  human  skeleton. 

By  universal  admission  these  remains  are  not  found 
in  the  rocks  that  bear  in  abundance  the  fossil  vegeta- 
bles of  the  third  great  epoch  of  creation ;  nor  in  those 
yet  higher  strata  that  contain  the  oldest  forms  of  an- 
imal life  whose  home  is  in  the  waters;  nor  is  man 
found  with  the  reptiles,  say  of  the  fifth  day  of  creation; 
nor  indeed  until  we  come  to  deposits  of  the  most  recent 
date,  of  a  kind  at  least  similar  to  those  which  are 
known  to  be  forming  within  the  historic  age  of  man. 

From  these  admitted  facts  I  make  this  special  point, 
viz.  that  if  man  had  lived  on  the  earth  contemporary 
with  the  oldest  animal  species,  we  ought  to  find  not 
merely  one  skeleton  or  half  a  skeleton  buried  along-side 
of  myriads  of  fossil  sea-shells  and  fishes,  but  a  fair  show 
of  specimens,  so  many  at  least  as  to  leave  no  question 
as  to  his  being  a  joint  occupant  with  them  of  the  earth 
as  it  then  was.  One  or  two,  or  even  a  dozen  skeletons, 
gathered  from  every  explored  portion  of  the  earth's 
surface,  are  too  few  for  the  base  of  a  theory  like  this 
because  such  scattered  cases,  in  number  so  meager,  are 
always  subject,  more  or  less,  to  abatement  from  the  fol- 
lowing possibilities: 

(a.)  The  human  family  in  all  ages  have  buried  their 
dead,  and  often,  during  the  earlier  ages,  in  rock-hewn 
sepulchers  or  in  natural  caves; 

(b.)  In  all  ages  of  the  world  men  have  been  liable  to 
fall  into  rock-fissures  and  ravines  and  to  die  there;  and 
to  leave  their  skeletons  to  become  fossil  there,  particu- 


REMAINS    OF    HIS   SKKLETOxN.  51 

larly  in  calcareous  and  similar  rocks  where  decomposi- 
tion or  solution  in  water  and  new  deposits  are  in 
progress ; 

(c.)  Men  have  been  wont  to  frequent  caves  for  shelter, 
for  safety  in  war  or  from  persecution,  and  consequently 
might  leave  their  bones  there;  or 

(d.)  Their  bones  may  have  been  dragged  into  cav- 
erns by  flesh-eating  animals  or  borne  into  strange  posi- 
tions b}^  underground  currents  of  water;  or  again, 

(e.)  Since  the  historic  Adam,  drift  deposits  have  in 
some  circumstances  been  forming  under  water,  in  which 
waters  men  have  been  liable  to  be  drowned  and  their 
skeletons  to  become  imbedded  in  those  dei^osits.  Changes 
of  elevation  may  bring  such  deposits  to  view. 

Such  possibilities  must  practically  nullif}'-  confidence 
in  the  proof  of  man's  high  antiquity  from  his  bones  so 
long  as  the  specimens  are  so  exceedingly  few  and  even 
these  few  found  only  quite  near  the  surface. 

This  argument  will  be  a])preciated  by  those  who  duly 
consider,  on  the  one  hand,  that  if  man  were  on  the 
earth  in  those  pre-Adamic  ages,  it  is  in  the  highest  de- 
gree improbable  that  his  population  ranged  at  a  dozen 
for  the  area  of  all  France,  and  a  few  hundreds  only  to  a 
continent — for  what  should  forbid  him  as  well  as  the 
lower  animals  to,  "be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replen- 
ish the  earth'"?  Besides,  a  pojDulation  so  sparse  and 
consequently  weak  could  have  made  no  stand  against 

armies  of  hyenas,  leopards,  bears  and  lions. On  the 

other  hand,  the  occurrence  of  human  bones,  in  num- 
bers so  very  few  and  so  remote  from  each  other,  will  be 
much  more  rationally  accounted  for  by  the  possibilities 
above  indicated. 

Yet  let  it  be  understood : — The  way  is  open  for  any 
extent  of  further  investigation.  We  have  no  occasion 
to  fear  the  result  of  the  search.  Let  the  rocks  be  torn 
up  and  examined;  let  mountains  be  tunneled  and  ca- 
nals be  dug;  let  railroad  grading  go  where  it  will;  if 
the  human  skeleton  should  be  found  where  none  of 
these  or  similar  possibilities  admit  its  date  since  Adam, 
we  will  certainly  give  the  case  all  due  consideration 
and  weight. 

(B.)  Next  is  the  argument/rom  man^s  uvrk  and  from  his 
tools. 


52  ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

Here  a  larger  field  opens.  My  limits  scarcely  alloAV 
me  to  do  more  than  indicate  briefly  the  present  state 

of  the  question. Thus  far  explorations  have  been 

mostly  restricted  to  Northern  and  Western  Europe,  say 
north  of  the  Alps  and  of  ancient  Greece,  in  the  regions 
anciently  known  as  Gaul,  Germany,  Scandinavia  and 
Britain."  The  supposed  remains  of  man's  tools  ai:d 
work  are  found  chiefly  in  caves  and  lake-dwellings,  or 
under  drift,  and  only  to  a  small  extent  in  monuments 
above  the  present  surface.  The  lake-dwellings  specially 
referred  to  are  in  Switzerland,  where  during  the  very 
dry  winter  of  1853-4  several  remarkable  villages  were 
found  built  on  piles  below  the  present  average  water- 
mark, which  were  once  without  doubt  the  abodes  of 
men,  with  quite  abundant  traces  indicating  their  modes 
of  life,  civilization,  implements,  and  the  contemporary 
animal  races.* 

The  various  stages  of  civilization  developed  in  these 
ancient  remains  have  been  usually  classified  under 
three  heads: 

1.  The  Stone  age,  in  which  man's  cutting  imple- 
ments, working  tools  and  weapons  of  war,  were  of  stone. 
This  age  is  sometimes  subdivided,  the  older  part  being 
called  "  Palaeolithic  "  [old  stone],  and  the  more  recent, 
"  Neolithic  "  [ncAV  stone]. 

2.  The  Bronze  age,  its  implements  being  chiefly  of 
copper  or  brass. 

3.  The  Iron  age,  where  iron  first  appears. 

Now  the  great  question— the  only  one  that  comes 
within  our  range  of  inquir}^ — is  the  date  of  these  traces 
of  ancient  men.  When  did  the  men  of  the  Stone  age 
and  of  the  Bronze  and  the  Iron  age  live? 

In  the  outset,  it  can  not  be  assumed  reasonably  that 
this  stone-age  civilization,  apparent  in  Northern  and 
Western  Europe,  was  necessarily  universal  at  that  time  over 
all  the  earth.  It  may  have  been  coeval  with  the  vcrj^ 
Inch  civilization  of  Egypt  and  even  of  Babylonia,  Phe- 
nicia,  Etruria.  We  must  consider  that  large  portions 
of  the  world  in  those  early  times  were  unknown  to  each 
other,  even  as  interior  At'rica  has  been  unknown  to  the 
civilized  world  almost  to  this  very  hour.  It  is  therefore 
entirely  an  open  question — Was  this  stone-age  civili- 

■'■■  See  Thompson's  "M;in  in  Genesis  and  in  Geology,"  pp.  SS-90, 
and  Lyell  on  the  Antiquity  of  Man,  pp.  17-29. 


ARGUMENT    FROM    HIS   WORKS.  53 

zation  pre-Adamic  ?  Was  it  anterior  to  Noah  ;  or  shall 
its  place  in  the  ages  be  found  contemporaneous  with  the 
early  civilized  nations  of  known  history  ? 

It  is  important  here  to  premise  yet  further  that  the 
earth's  surface  has  at  no  very  remote  period  experienced 
considerable  elevations  and  depressions  and  changes  of 
temperature.  Especially  there  are  proofs  of  an  extraor- 
dinary period  of  glaciers  and  icebergs,  by  means  of 
which  huge  bowlders  have  been  transported  from  their 
ancient  beds  and  scattered  afar,  and  vast  masses  of 
debris,  rocks  ground  down  and  pulverized,  mixed  with 
sand,  gravel,  and  small  stones,  have  been  heaped  up 
along  the  line  of  the  glaciers  and  spread  over  their 
track.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  the  full  measure  of 
litUity  resulting  from  this  great  ice-flood  and  glacier 
movement,  in  grinding  the  surface  of  the  rocky  strata 
and  mixing  this  finely  pulverized  matter  with  decom- 
posed vegetable  elements  to  prepare  soil  for  our  earth's 
surface. 

The  opinion  is  becoming  general  that  man  was  not 
placed  upon  the  earth  until  after  this  glacial  and  ice- 
bound age.  He  could  not  have  lived  here  then  :  cer- 
tainly not  in  portions  reached  by  glacial  action  and  ice 
floods;  the  earth  was  not  ready  for  him  till  afterwards. 
No  decisive  traces  of  his  presence  at  an  earlier  period 
have  been  found.     Such  traces  appear  shortly  after. 

The  problem  of  the  time  of  man's  first  appearance 
upon  the  earth  is  for  the  most  part  one  of  estimates;  and 
these  estimates  in  the  department  of  geology  are  com- 
prised, at  least  chiefly,  under  these  five  heads  : 

(1.)  The  time  required  for  the  alluvial  deposits  under- 
neath which  his  remains  or  implements  have  been 
found. 

(2.)  The  time  required  for  the  growth  of  the  peat  under 
which  we  find  man  or  his  works. 

(3.)  The  time  required  for  the  succession  of  forest 
growths  since  his  first  a])pearance. 

(4.)  The  age  of  the  animal  races,  extinct  or  living, 
whose  remains  are  found  associated  with  his. 

(5.)  We  have  next  and  last  another  source  of  testi- 
mony which  is  mainly  free  from  the  uncertainties  of 
estimate,  viz.  the  question  of  commercial  relations  be- 
tween the  barbarous  stone-age,  bronze-ago,  or  iron-age 
tribes,  and  the  civilized  nations  of  the  early  historic  ages, 


54  ANTIQUITY  OF    MAN. 

The  estimates  on  these  several  jDoints  demand  distinct 
consideration. 

(1.)  The  estimate  of  the  time  required  for  the  alluvial 
deposits  along  the  banks  of  rivers,  has  been  extremely 
various.  Lyell,  having  visited  the  delta  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river  in  person,  estimated  its  time-period  of  accu- 
mulation at  one  hundred  thousand  years. -'^  But  a  care- 
ful examination  made  by  gentlemen  of  the  Coast 
Survey  and  other  United  States  officers,  reduces  this 
time-period  to  four  thousand  and  four  hundred  years.f 
Again,  Mr.  Lyell  estimates  that  220,000  j^ears  are  neces- 
sary to  account  for  changes  now  going  on  upon  the  coast 
of  Sweden.  Later  geologists  reduce  the  time  to  one- 
tenth  of  that  estimate.  A  piece  of  pottery  was  discov- 
ered deepl}^  buried  under  the  deposits  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Nile.  It  was  confidently  asserted  that  the  deposits 
could  not  have  been  made  during  the  historic  period, 
until  it  was  proved  that  the  article  in  question  was  of 
Roman  manufacture. t  Such  diversities  suffice  to  show 
at  least  that  somebody  has  blundered.  Some  of  these 
high  estimates  are  gratuitously  extravagant.  All  esti- 
mates from  the  drift  deposits,  bearing  on  the  antiquity 
of  man,  ought  in  reason  to  be  made  with  careful  refer- 
ence to  these  two  modifying  considerations  : 

(a.)  That  drift  deposits  may  have  been,  and  with  the 

■^Lyell's  Antiquity  of  Man,  pp.  43  and  204. 

tSee  Report  upon  the  Physics  and  Hydi'aulics  of  tlie  Mississippi 
River  by  Capt.  A.  A.  Humphreys  and  Lieut.  JI.  L.  Abbott ;  1861,  pp. 
435. 

The  following  extract  will  impress  the  reader  as  at  once  definite 

and  reliable. "  If  it  be  assumed  that  the  rate  of  progress  has  been 

uniform  to  tlie  present  day — and  there  are  some  considerations  con- 
nected with  the  manner  in  which  the  river  pushes  the  bar  into  the 
gulf  each  year  which  tend  to  establish  the  cori-ectness  of  that  opin- 
ion—the number  of  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  river  began 
to  advance  into  the  gulf  can  be  computed.  Tlie  present  rate  of  prog- 
ress of  the  mouth  may  be  obtained  by  a  careful  comparison  of  the 
progress  of  all  the  mouths  of  the  river  as  shown  by  the  maps  of  Capt. 
Talbot,  United  States  Engineer,  1838,  and  of  the  United  States 
Coast  Survey  in  1851 — the  only  maps  that  admit  of  such  compari- 
son. They  give  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet  for  the  mean  yearly 
advance  of  all  the  passes.      This  mean  advance  of  all  the  passes 

represents  correctly  the  advance  of  the  river Adopting  this 

rate  of  progress  (two  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet  per  annum)  four 
thousand  four  hundred  years  have  elapsed  sir.ce  the  river  began  to 
advance  into  the  gulf."     Bib.  Sacra.,  April,  1873,  p.  331. 

t  Hodge's  Sy.stematic  Theology,  vol.  2,  p.  33. 


ARGUMENT    FIIOM    IIIS    WORKS.  55 

utmost  probability  were,  much  more  rapid  in  the  ear- 
lier ages  tban  at  present.  At  the  close  of  the  glacial 
and  ice  period  vast  masses  of  loose  matter  were  ready  to 
be  swept  rapidly  as  drift  by  river  freshets.  Any  farmer 
may  have  an  illustration  of  this  if  he  will  plow  his 
side-hill  field,  running  his  furroAVS  up  and  down  the 
hill.  He  will  find  that  the  first  powerful  shower  will 
bring  down  far  more  drift  than  the  fortieth.  It  would 
be  very  short-sighted  in  liim  to  take  the  drift  of  the 
tenth  year  after  the  said  plowing  for  his  rate  of  annual 
deposition  and  estimate  the  whole  period  from  this  data. 
But  on  this  mistaken  principle  some  geologists  have 
made  their  time  estimates  for  the  drift  simply  mon- 
strous. 

(b.)  Human  remains  and  tools  may  in  many  wa3-s 
get  far  below  the  surface  of  the  drift.  They  may  have 
been  buried  under  it  after  its  deposition.  While  the 
drift  lay  under  water,  (soft  and  pliable  therefore,)  flints, 
arrow-heads,  knives,  or  human  bones,  may  have  sunk 

in  the  mire. These  and  similar  considerations  may 

demand  large  abatement  from  the  time-estimates  built 
upon  the  amount  of  drift  found  above  the  remains  of 
man. 

We  may  ap2")ly  these  modifying  considerations  to  the 
case  given  by  Lj^ell  (Anti(juity  of  Man,  pp.  27,  28)  of 
the  drift  dej^osits  near  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  Here  are 
.five  inches  in  thickness  deposited  since  the  Roman 
period  (known  by  its  enclosed  memorials)  which  we 
safely  put  at  1800  years.  Next  below  is  a  stratum  of  six 
inches  depth,  marked  by  bronze  implements,  which  he 
estimates  to  reach  back  fi'om  tlie  present  time,  3000  to 
4000  years.  Similarly,  the  next  stratum  (seven  inches) 
indicated  as  the  Stone  ago,  he  counts  at  5000  to  7000 
years  old.  But  if  the  depositions  were  much  more  rapid 
in  the  early  than  in  tlie  later  ages  of  our  world,  these 
estimates  for  the  ages  of  bronze  and  of  stone  must  be 
materially  shortened,  and  may  reasonably  be  brought 
within  the  historic  period  of  man. 

(2.)  The  time  required  for  the  formation  of  peat  beds 
has  been  usually  estimated  upon  its  observed  growth 
and  accumulation  at  the  present  day.  Yet  in  the  case 
of  peat-growth  as  in  the  case  of  drift-deposits,  it  is  at 
least  possible  and  would  seem  highly  probable  that  its 
growth  and  deposition  were  much  more  rapid  during 


5.6  ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

the  earlier  ages  of  our  race  than  at  present.  The  vir- 
gin soil  was  richer;  the  climatic  influences  may  have 
been  more  propitious.  It  should  be  considered  also 
here  (as  in  the  case  of  drift)  that  the  remains  of  man 
and  his  implements,  instead  of  resting  invariably  upon 
the  surface  of  the  peat,  may  by  various  means  have 
gone  down  much  below  the  surface.  The  time  of  man's 
presence,  therefore,  as  measured  by  the  time  estimated 
to  be  necessary  for  the  deposit  of  the  peat  found  above 
him,  may  be  quite  overestimated. 

The  peat  beds  of  Denmark  are  put  by  Lyell  (An- 
tiquity of  Man,  p.  17)  at  a  minimum  of  4000  years. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Somme  (France)  they  are  found  30 
feet  deep;  and  in  its  upper  strata  there  are  Romish  and 
Celtic  memorials,  showing  that  its  depositions  contin- 
ued a  considerable  time  after  the  historic  age  of  Rome. 

(3.)  The  time  required  for  the  succession  of  forest 
growths  since  the  appearance  of  man. 

Geologists  find  in  Denmark,  earliest,  a  growth  of  Scotch 
fir ;  next,  of  oak ;  last,  coming  down  to  the  present,  of 
the  beech.  The  age  of  civilization  known  as  the  Stone 
age  synchronizes  nearly  with  the  fir;  the  Bronze  age 
with  the  oak ;  the  historic  period  with  iron  implements 
answers  to  the  beech.*  Now  the  problem  is — How 
much  time  is  required  for  one  species  of  forest  growths 
to  run  its  course  and  become  supplanted  by  another? 

'Obviously  this  problem  must  depend  not  on  time 

alone,  but  on  climatic  changes.  Moreover,  one  kind  of 
trees  may  require  less  time  than  another  to  exhaust  the 
soil  of  tiie  elements  specially  congenial  to  its  health, 
vigor  and  stability.  I  do  not  see  that  any  reliable 
measure  of  time  can  be  found  for  estimatiiig  the  life- 
period  of  different  species  of  forest  growths. 

(4.)  Attempts  have  been  made  to  estimate  the  an- 
tiquity of  man  from  the  animal  races  with  which  his 
remains  have  been  found  associated.  The  animals 
brought  into  this  estimate  have  been  chiefly  the  mam- 
mals, quadrupeds,  most  nearly  related,  by  anatomical 
structure,  to  man.  Great  account  has  been  made  of  the 
fact  that  the  remains  of  man  (his  bones  or  his  tools) 
have  been  found  in  connection  with  the  remains  of  land 
animals  now  extinct.  The  uncertain  element  in  all 
such  calculations  is  the  date  at  which  the  said  animal 
■■•■'See  Lyell's  Antiiuity  of  Man,  pp.  9-11. 


ARGUMENT    FROM    HIS   WORKS.  57 

species  became  extinct.  This  is  perhaps  fully  as  doubt- 
ful as  the  age  at  which  man  began  to  live  on  the  earth. 
So  far  as  is  known,  some  species  have  disappeared  within 
the  present  century;  e.g.  the  Great  Auk,  or  Northern 
Penguin  (alca  impennis),  last  seen  alive  in  1844.  Sev- 
eral species,  once  quite  prominent  for  their  hugeness 
or  other  qualities,  are  supposed  to  have  disappeared 
within  the  historic  period  of  man  ;  e.  g.  the  mammoth, 
the  mastodon,  the  woolly  rhinoceros,  the  cave-bear,  etc. 
But  precisely  when  they  severally  became  extinct,  no 
existing  data  suffice  to  show.  Of  course  it  avails  little 
to  prove  that  man  was  coeval  with  a  few  animal  races 
now  extinct. 

(5.)  Far  more  important  in  my  view  is  the  light 
thrown  upon  the  antiquity  of  the  JBronze  and  Iron  ages 
of  civilization  in  Northern  and  Western  Europe  by  the 
traces  of  commercial  relations  between  those  respective 
peoples  and  the  civilized  nations  of  the  known  historic 
ages.  In  this  case,  the  elements  of  uncertainty  common 
to  the  preceding  estimates  are  mostly  if  not  Avholly 
eliminated.  When  among  the  relics  of  the  Bronze  age, 
say  in  Switzerland  or  in  Denmark,  we  find  art-speci- 
mens, valuable  for  use  or  beauty,  which  manifestly 
came  from  Phenicia,  Etruria,  or  Egypt,  bearing  unmis- 
takably the  stamp  of  their  civilization,  and  specifically, 
of  their  art,  we  need  no  further  proof  that  the  old  Bronze 
age  lay  in  time  along-side  of  the  reign  of  Etrurian  or 
Egyptian  art  and  civilization.  On  this  subject  the 
British  Quarterly  (Oct.,  1872)  on  ''  The  present  Phase 
of  Pre-historic  Archeology "  discusses  the  question 
Avhether  the  Bronze  civilization  in  Central  and  North- 
ern Europe  was  introduced  by  an  invading  people  from 
the  East,  or  by  peaceful  commerce  with  the  peoples 
contiguous  to  the  Mediterranean,  viz.  the  Phenicians 
of  Palestine,  the  Etrurians  of  Italy,  and  the  Egyptians. 
The  argument  is  strongly  in  favor  of  the  latter  alterna- 
tive. "  The  beautiful  bronze  swords,  spear-heads,  axes, 
knives,  razors,  etc.,  which  lie  scattered  over  Northern 
and  Central  Europe  are  remarkable  for  the  singular 
beauty  of  their  form  and  ornamentation  " — all  bearing 
so  much  unity  of  design  as  to  prove  a  common  origin 
from  the.  same  source.  "  The  double  spirals,  and  dotted 
circles  and  spirals  and  zigzag  ornaments  which  are  so 
common  on  the  bronze  articles  of  France,  Germany, 


5S  ANTIQUITY   OF    MAN. 

Britain,  Ireland,  and  Scandinavia  are  identical  with  the 
designs  which  arc  found  in  Etruscan  tombs.  Some  of  the 
bronze  swords  and  spear-lieads  are  also  identical;  and 
the  peculiar  spuds  and  bronze  axes,  used  by  the  Etrus- 
cans, are  similar  to  those  Avhich  are  found  in  Northern 
Europe."  (pp.  247,  248). The  limits  of  my  j^lan  for- 
bid a  full  presentation  of  this  argument.  Suflice  it  to 
say  briefly  that  very  great  progress  has  been  made 
within  the  last  fifty  years  toward  disentombing  the 
pre-histoiical  ages  of  Central  and  Northern  EurojDc,  and 
bringing  out  their  relation  to  the  early  historic  civili- 
zation of  Egypt,  Phenicia,  and  Etruria.  The  results 
thus  far  seem  to  identify  the  oldest  race  of  man  as 
known  by  his  remains  {i.  e.  they  of  the  earlier  Stone 
age)  with  the  Esquimaux  of  Lapland;  the  men  of  the 
later  Stone  age,  with  the  Iberian  or  Basque  people  of 
Spain;  after  whom  were  the  Celts  and  the  Belgae  Avho 
were  on  the  field  at  the  period  where  Roman  history 
touches  Britain  and  Gaul.— — How  far  back  in  time 
those  Esquimau  tribes  lie,  it  seems  yet  impossible  to  de- 
termine ;  but  the  next  wave  of  population — they  of 
the  later  Stone  age — falls  far  within  the  period  of 
scripture  chronology — not  necessarily  older  than  the 
Phenicians,  Assyrians,  and  Egyptians,  Inasmuch  as 
Phenician  art  and  commerce  were  in  their  glory  during 
the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  we  may  at  least  pro- 
vide a  considerable  interval  of  time  for  the  Esquimau 
tribes  of  the  older  Stone  age  before  we  encounter  the 
deluge  of  Noah,  and  much  more  still,  before  we  come 
up  to  Adam.  It  is  a  fact  of  no  trifling  importance  that 
the  oldest  race  detected  by  the  explorers  of  the  earth's 
crust  can  be  so  clearly  identified  with  the  Esquimaux 
now  occupying  the  highest  northern  latitudes  inhab- 
ited by  man. 

More  abundant  still  are  the  proofs  which  bring  the 
Bronze  and  Iron  ages  of  Northern  Europe  within  what 
were  the  historic  times  of  the  nations  on  the  borders  of 

the   Mediterranean. The   estimates  made   by  some 

geologists  and  antiquarians  which  carry  the  later  Stone, 
the  Bronze,  and  the  Iron  peoiDles  back  into  the  mighty 
Past  anywhere  from  10,000  to  100,000  years  seem  to  me 
extremely  fanciful  and  unscientific.  Thorough  investi- 
gation into  all  the  facts  bearing  on  the  case  coupled 
with  sober  estimates  of  the  time  which  they  indicate, 


VERY   ANCIENT   TRADITIONS.  59 

will  at  no  distant  day  bring  this  problem  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  man  to  a  satisfactory  solution.  It  does  not 
become  us  to  fear  any  revelations  which  come  legiti- 
mately from  well  ascertained  facts. 

Another  argument  for  the  high  antiquity  of  man  has 
been  drawn  _/Voni  tlie  traditions  of  the  most  anctent  nations — 
China  and  India;  dlso  from  the  great  population,  the  early 
civilization,  and  the  art-monuments  of  Egypt. 

On  the  point  of  the  traditions  and  chronologies  of  the 
ancient  nations  of  the  East,  the  first  problem  is  to  as- 
ccrtaiii  what  they  are  and  what  they  claim.  If  they 
run  up  their  figures  (as  sometimes  said)  to  20,000  years, 
the  extravagance  of  the  claim  vitiates  its  credibility.^-''- 
We  put  it  to  the  account  of  fancy  and  fiction,  or  of 
national  pride,  and  rule  it  out  from  the  realm  of  historic 
science.  But  if  as  estimated  by  Bailly  (Kitto;  Chronol- 
og}'',  p.  434)  the  years  from  the  Christian  era  back  to 
the  creation  are  put  in  Chinese  chronology  at  6157;  in 
the  Babjdonian,  at  6158;  and  in  the  Indian  (by  Gentil) 
at  6174,  we  give  these  chronologies  our  respectful  at- 
tention. The  fact  that  the  extreme  dilYerence  in  these 
three  is  but  seventeen  years  is  certainly  striking,  and 
indicates  either  a  common  origin  of  authority  or  an  ap- 
proximation toward  the  truth ;  perhaps  both.  We 
shall  soon  have  occasion  to  compare  these  figures  with 
the  latest  and  most  approved  results  of  Biblical  chro- 
nology. 

As  to  the  age  of  Egyptian  art,  civilization,  and  polit- 
ical power,  the  time  allowed  for  its  development  in 
harmony  with  Usher's  chronology  (the  one  usually  in- 
dicated in  editions  of  the  English  Bible)  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  short — almost  incredibly  short.  Here  I 
sulmiit  that  the  primary  question  should  be — the  cor- 
rectness of  Usher.  Let  the  Bible  system  of  chronol- 
ogy be  rigidly  scanned — not  for  the  purpose  of  making 
it  tally  with  Egyptian  claims,  or  with  any  other  sj'stem 
of  chronology  not  sacred ;  but  for  the  purpose  of  arriv- 
ing at  the  truth  as  ascertainable  from  the  Bible  itself. 

*  See  "Antiquity  and  Unity  of  the  Unman  Race,"  by  Eev.  Eben- 
ezcr  Burgess,  pjj.  25-30. 


CHAPTER  III. 

•       HEBREW  ClIEONOLOGY. 

From  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  the  Creation. 

By  general  consent  the  birth  of  Christ  is  made  the 
central  point  of  all  sacred  chronology,  the  Christian 
ages  being  reckoned  forward  from  that  point  (A.  D.) 
and  the  Jewish  or  earlier  ages  being  reckoned  back- 
ward (B.  C.)-     We  treat  of  the  latter  only. Going 

backward  from  the  Christian  era,  there  is  general  agree- 
ment and  no  reasonable  ground  for  diversity  till  we  reach 
the  period  of  the  Judges  of  Israel.     The  cardinal  points  are : 

B.  c. 

The  decree  of  Cyrus  for  the  restoration  of  the  Jews.  536 

The  duration  of  the  captivity,  from  the  fourth  year 

of  Jehoiakim,  70  years 606 

(But  counted  from  the  fall  of  the  city  under  Zede- 
kiah,  52  years  only.) 

From  the  revolt,  first  year  of  Rehoboam  to  the  fall 

of  the  city,  388  years 976 

To  the  founding  of  the  temple,  beginning  of  Solo- 
mon's fourth  year,  37  years 1013 

This  last  epoch  has  chronological  importance — the 
foundation  of  the  temple  laid — A.  D.  1013. 

The  first  disputed,  diversely  estimated,  point  is  the 
period  of  the  Judges;  yet  the  proof  texts  and  authorities 
cover  the  period  from  the  Exodus  to  the  temple. 
Usher  makes  the  period  of  the  Judges  339  years  ;  Jahn 
and  many  others,  450.  Usher  relies  on  1  K.  6 :  1 :  "  In 
the  480th  year  after  the  children  of  Israel  were  come 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  fourth  3'ear  of  Solo- 
mon's reign  over  Israel he  began  to  build  the 

house  of  the  Lord." 

His  comj^utation  runs  thus  : 

YEAKS. 

Hebrews  in  the  wilderness 40 

Hebrews  under  Joshua 17 

(00) 


PERIOD   OF    THE   JUDGES.  61 

TEAKS. 

Samuel  and  Saul  together* 40 

David  (2  Sam.  5 :  4,  5) 41 

Solomon  up  to  the  founding  of  the  temple 3 

Judges— to  fill  out  480 339 

480 

The  long  period  for  the  Judges  rests  primarily  on 
Acts  13:  20,  which  states  that  "after  having  divided  to 
them  the  land  of  Canaa.n  by  lot,  God  gave  them  judges 
450  years  until  Samuel  the  prophet."  Placing  450  in 
the  above  computation  in  place  of  339 — an  excess  of 
111  years — we  find  the  date  of  the  Exodus  B.  C.  1604  in- 
stead of  Usher's  figures  A.  D.  1491. 

In  support  of  this  long  period  for  the  Judges  ma}^  be 
urged — 

(1.)  The  authority  of  Paul  as  above  (Acts  13:  20) 
which  makes  this  period  450  years. 

(2.)  Josephus  makes  the  interval  from  the  Exodus  to 
the  founding  of  the  temple  592  years,  and  not  480.  The 
Jews  of  China  also  make  it  592 — facts  which  favor  the 
supposition  that  the  Hebrew  text  of  1  K.  6 :  1,  is  in 
error.  It  can  not  be  supposed  that  either  Josephus  or 
the  Chinese  Jews  adjusted  their  figures  to  harmonize 
with  Paul. 

(3.)  The  internal  dates  in  the  Book  of  Judges  demand 
the  long  period  and  can  not  be  harmonized  with  the 
short  one. Thus  Judges  11 :  26  shows  that  the  He- 
brews had  then  dwelt  in  Heshbon,  Aroer  and  along  the 
coast  of  Arnon  300  years.  These  years  lie  between  the 
entrance  into  Canaan  and  the  beginning  of  Jephthah's 
judgeship.     We  have  then  this  computation : 


YEARS. 


300  years,  minus  17  years  for  the  term  of  Joshua,  is.. 283 

Add  for  Jephthah  (Judg.  12  :  6) 6 

For  Ibzan  7  years ;  for  Elon  10 ;  for  Abdon  8  (accord- 
ing to  Judg.  12 :  8,  11,  14) 25 

Servitude  to  the  Philistines  (Judg.  13  :  1) 40 

Sampson  (Judg.  15  :  20  and  16  :  31)  not  less  than. . .   20 
Eli  (1  Sam.  4 :  18) 40 

*•  Jospphus  statiB  explicitly  tliat  Samuel  and  Saul  coniLined  fill 
out  40  yeans. 


62  HEBREW    CHRONOLOGY. 


A  period  without  dates  (narrated  Judg.  17-21)  esti- 
mated at 40 

Makes  a  total  of 454 

It  is  entirely  impossible  to  bring  these  internal  dates 
in  the  history  within  the  short  period  of  339  years  for 
the  Judges.  We  must  therefore  accept  the  long  pe- 
riod— 450  years — and  place  the  Exodus  in  1013-|-591= 
B.  C.  1604. 

The  next  period  of  conflicting  authorities  is  the  So- 
journ in  Egypt.     The  issue  lies  between  the  long  period, 

430  years,  and  the  short  one,  215  years. The  first 

proof  text  is  Ex.  12:  40:  "Now  the  sojourning  of  the 
children  of  Israel  who  dwelt  in  Egypt  was  430  years." 
Next  is  Gen.  15 :  13 :  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in 
a  land  not  theirs  and  shall  serve  them ;  and  they  shall 
afflict  them  400  years " : — which  is  quoted  substan- 
tially by  Stephen,  Ac.  7:  6. On  the  other  hand  stands 

Gal.  3 :  17,  which  makes  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai 
430  years  after  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham.  '  The 
interval  from  that  covenant  to  Jacob's  standing  before 
Pharaoh  is  readily  computed  thus :  From  the  covenant 
with  Abram,  he  being  then  75  years  old  (Gen.  12 :  4)  to 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  Abraham  100  years  old  (Gen.  21 :  5) 

is  25  years. From  birth  of  Isaac  to  birth  of  Jacob 

(Gen.  25 :  26)   60. Jacob  standing  before   Pharaoh 

(Gen.  47:  9)  at  130,  the  sum  of  which  numbers  is  215. 
According  to  Paul,  this  would  leave  for  the  sojourn  in 
Eg3'pt  but  215  years. 

A  distinct  class  of  proofs  came  from  an  estimate  of 
the  generations  between  the  fathers  wlio  went  down, 
into  Egypt  and  the  sons  who  entered  Canaan.     Of  this, 
presently. 

Reverting  now  to  the  obviously  conflictiiig  proof 
texts  above  cited,  we  may  note  that  Ex.  12:  40  is  read 
variously — the  Septuagint  (Vatican  text)  adding  after 
"dwelt  in  Egypt,"  the  words — "and  in  the  land  of 
Canaan;"  while  the  Alexandrian  text  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint adds  also — "they  and  their  fathers."  Both 
these  additions  appear  also  in  the  Samaritan  text  and 
in  the  Targum  Jonathan;  while  the  Masoretic  Hebrew 
is  supported  b}'-  the  more  reliable  Targum  of  Onkelos ; 


SOJOURN    IN    EGYPT.  63 

also  by  the  Syriac  and  the  Vulgate.  These  additions  as 
in  the  Septuagint  are  clumsily  made.  The  dwelling  in 
Canaan,  referring  to  Abraham  and  Isaac,  should  come 
in  before  the  dwelling  in  Egypt  if  at  all,  and  not  after. 
The  diversity  between  the  two  texts  of  the  Septuagint 
is  suspicious.  The  authority  of  the  old  Hebrew  text 
stands  unshaken. 

The  passage  Gen  15:  13  is  strong  to  the  same  pur- 
port, since  it  was  "in  a  land  not  his  own"  (i.  e.  not 
Canaan),  and  was  a  state  of  tyrannous  oppression 
which  was  to  continue  400  years — points  which  forbid 
us  to  include  in  this  400  years  the  life-history  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  Jacob. As  to  Paul  (Gal.  3 :  17)  his 

readers  had  before  them  only  the  Septuagint ;  he  would 
therefore  naturally  follow  its  authority,  and  the  more 
readily  because  the  difference  betAveen  that  and  the 
Hebrew  in  the  length  of  the  interval  was  a  point  of  no 
importance  to  his  argument. 

The  evidence  from  the  lapse  of  generations  during 
the  sojourn  in  Egypt  is  of  great,  not  to  sa}^  decisive,  im- 
portance to  our  question.  Here,  however,  opinions  as 
to  its  bearing  diflt'er  totally.  One  of  the  test  passages  is 
Ex.  6:  16-20,  which  makes  the  whole  age  of  Levi  137 
years ;  of  Kohath,  his  son,  133 ;  of  Amram — apparently 
his  son  and  the  father  of  Moses,  137.  The  age  of  Moses 
when  he  stood  before  Pharaoh  (Ex.  7 :  7)  was  80.  Ko- 
hath was  born  in  Canaan ;  his  father  was  older  by  sev- 
eral years  than  Benjamin ;  presumably,  therefore,  his 
children  were  older;  yet  Benjamin  had  ten  sons  when 
he  went  down  into  Egypt  (Gen.  46 :  21).  If  we  suppose 
that  Kohath  was  25  when  he  went  into  Egypt,  then  he 
lived  there  108  years.  Amram  lived  there  137,  and 
Moses  at  the  Exodus  had  lived  80.  With  these  given 
generations  and  ages,  this  computation  is  stretched  to 
its  utmost  extent  since  it  supposes  Kohath's  death  at 
133  and  Amram's  birth  to  have  occurred  in  the  same 
3'ear;  also  Amram's  death  at  137  and  the  birth  of  Moses 
to  be  in  the  same  year;  yet  the  sum  is  only  325,  which 
is  less  by  10>5  years  than  tlie  long  period.  With  these 
data  the  short  period  (215)  might  be  readily  provided 
for. 

But  several  circumstances  combine  to  show  that  tliere 
nnist  be  several  omitted  links  between  the  Amram 
4 


64  HEBREW   CHRONOLOGY. 

here  spoken  of,  and  Kohath.  For  in  this  genealogical 
list  (Ex.  6:  16-20)  we  have  but  two  names  between 
Levi,  the  tribe-father,  and  Moses,  viz.  Kohath  and  Am- 
ram.  But  between  Joseph,  a  younger  tribe-father,  and 
Zelophehad,  a  contemporary  of  Moses,  there  are  four  in- 
tervening names  (Num.  26:  28-33);  between  Judah  and 
Bezaleel  there  are  six  (1  Chron.  2 :  3-5, 18-20)  ;  between 
Joseph  (through  Ephraim)  and  Joshua,  there  are  nine 

(1  Chron.  7:  22-27). Again,  we  have  in  Num.  3:  27, 

28,  a  census  of  the  four  Kohath  families.  The  males, 
from  one  month  and  upward,  are  8600.  If  we  set  off 
one-fourth  of  these  to  Amram  (i.  e.  2150)  and  remember 
that  the  Amram  who  was  father  to  Moses  had  but  one 
other  son,  Aaron,  (known  to  this  genealogy)  with  four 
sons,  and  that  Moses  had  but  two,  we  shall  see  it  ut- 
terly impossible  that  the  male  offspring  of  Moses  and  of 
Aaron  could  number  2150.  Therefore  Amram,  the  im- 
mediate son  of  Kohath,  must  have  been  several  genera- 
tions back  of  the  Amram  who  was  father  of  Moses. ■ 

The  genealogy  of  Jochebed,  the  mother  of  Moses,  might 
also  be  explained,  but  space  forbids. The  vast  in- 
crease of  Hebrew  population,  from  the  70  souls  who 
went  down  into  Egypt  to  the  600,000  men  of  age  for 
war  who  went  out  (Ex.  12:  37),  suggests  a  longer  time 
than  215  years.  The  evidence  on  the  whole  preponder- 
ates decisively  against  the  shorter  and  in  favor  of  the 
longer  period,  430  years. 

The  third  doubtful  period  in  Hebrew  chronology  lies 
between  Abraham  and  his  father  Terah,  the  question 
being  the  age  of  Terah  at  Abraham's  birth.  Some  au- 
thorities make  it  70  years;  others,  130.  The  proof  texts 
are — (a.)  Gen.  11 :  26;  "  Terah  lived  70  years  and  begat 

Abram,  Nahor,  and  Haran." (b.)  Gen.  11:  32;  "The 

days  of  Terah  were   205    years ;    and  Terah   died    in 

Haran." (c.)  Acts  7:4;"  Abram  came  out  of  the  land 

of  the  Chaldeans  and  dwelt  in  Haran ;  and  from  thence, 
after  his  father  was  dead,   he   removed   into  this  land 

wherein  ye  now  dwell." (d.)  Gen.  12:  4;  "Abram  was 

75  years  old  when  he  departed  out  of  Haran." The 

difficulty  is  that  if  Abram  was  born  when  his  father 
was  70  and  lived  with  him  till  his  death  at  the  age  of 
205,  he  should  have  been  135  and  not  merely  75  when 
his  father  died  and  he  went  into  Canaan. To  sur- 


TERAH   TO   ABRAHAM.  65 

mount  this  difficulty  some  construe  the  text  (a.)  to 
mean  that  Terah  lived  70  years  before  the  birth  of  his 
first  son ;  that  Abram  was  not  his  first-born  but  is 
named  first  on  account  of  his  greater  prominence  in 
history  and  in  character;  and  that  Abram  was  not  born 

till  his  father  was  130. Others  assume  that  Stephen 

made  the  slight  mistake  of  supposing  that  Terah  was 
dead  when  Abram  left  Haran  for  Canaan,  misled  by  the 
circumstance  that  the  historian,  in  order  to  dispose  of 
his  case,  narrated  Terah's  death  before  he  spoke  of 
Abram's  emigration  to  Canaan,  although  (as  they  as- 
sume) it  in  fact  occurred  60  years  afterAvards. Others 

assume  an  error  in  the  number  of  years  assigned  as  the 
full  age  of  Terah,  making  it  145  instead  of  205 — the 
Samaritan  text  giving  these  figures. 

The  assumption  that  Stephen  was  mistaken  is  to  be 
rejected;  partly  because  it  was  vital  to  the  purposes  of 
his  speech  that  his  historic  points  should  be  accurately 
made — at  least  in  harmony  with  current  Jewish  opin- 
ion— to  say  nothing  of  the  further  fact  that  he  is  before 
us  as  one  "filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost"  and  specially 
inspired;  partly  because  the  history  represents  Terah 
as  sympathizing  fully  in  the  spirit  of  the  removal  from 
Ur  to  Canaan,  and   apparently  prevented  from  going 

only  by  the  infirmities  of  age. The  choice   seems, 

therefore,  to  lie  between  the  first  named  explanation 
and  the  last.  The  first — making  the  passage  (Gen.  11 : 
26)  mean  only  that  Terah  lived  70  years  before  the  birth 
of  his  eldest,  but  became  the  father  of  three  sons — leav- 
ing us  at  liberty  to  fix  Abraham's  birth  at  his  130th 
year — is  a  possible  construction,  but  is  rendered  some- 
what improbable  by  Abram's  question  (Gen.  17 :  17) 
"  Shall  a  son  be  borii  to  him  that  is  100  years  old "  ? 
How  could  he  have  thought  this  strange  if  in  fact  he 

himself  had  been  born  when  his  father  was  130? 

There  may  be  an  error  in  the  number  of  years  of  Terah's 
life;  the  Samaritan  text  may  be  right  in  making  it  145. 
This  is  below  the  average  age  of  his  fathers;  but  in 
those  as  in  all  other  days,  men  were  subject  to  die  before 
they  reached  tlie  maximum  age  of  their  generation. 
It  would  seem  that  he  set  out  from  Ur  with  the  reason- 
able expectation  of  going  to  Canaan.  Hence  a  proba- 
bility that  he  died  unexpectedly,  and  at  an  earlier  ago 


66  HEBREW    CHRONOLOGY. 

than  his  fathers.  I  can  express  no  positive  opinion 
upon  this  case. 

Two  other  doubtful  periods  remain  to  be  considered, 
viz.  The  interval  from  the  creation  to  the  flood:  and  the 
interval  from  the  flood  to  the  call  of  Abram.  The  question 
upon  these  two  intervals  is  substantially  the  same,  so 
that  they  may  properly  be  presented  together.  It 
hinges  in  both  cases  upon  the  authority  of  the  texts — 
viz.  for  the  former  interval,  Gen.  5:  3-32;  and  for  the 

latter.  Gen.  11  :  10-26. In  form  these  tables  are  not 

chronological  but  genealogical.  They  do  not  reckon  from 
any  given  era,  as  if  (e.  a.)  to  show  the  interval  from  the 
creation  to  the  flood,  but  give  the  age  of  each  member 
of  the  genealogical  line  when  his  son  of  the  same  line 
was  born.  It  is  therefore  by  adding  together  these 
measured  portions  of  each  man's  life,  viz.  the  years  he 
lived  before  the  next  member  in  the  line  was  born,  that 

we  obtain  the  entire  interval. The  tables  give  three 

facts  as  to  each  man's  life ;  (a.)  how  old  he  was  when 
his  son  in  this  line  was  born ;  (b.)  how  long  he  lived 
afterwards ;  and  (c.)  the  sum  total  of  his  years.  If  the 
chain  is  perfect,  with  neither  missing  nor  supernumer- 
ary links,  and  if  the  numbers  of  the  first  class  are  all 
correct,  the  result  must  be  reliable.  But  plainly  the 
result  will  be  changed  at  once  by  changing  the  first  set 
of  numbers  and  the  second  to  correspond, — without 
changing  the  third  at  all. 

In  the  present  case  from  Adam  to  Noah  inclusive  are 
ten  generations.  The  sum  of  the  first  class  of  numbers 
as  it  stands  in  our  Hebrew  text  is  1656,  to  the  year  of 
the  flood.  The  only  question  of  difficulty  is  upon  the 
authority  of  the  text.  The  Septuagint  makes  the  same 
interval  2262 — an  excess  above  the  Hebrew  of  606  years. 

In  like  manner  from  the  birth  of  Arphaxad  to  the 

call  of  Abram  (ten  generations  inclusive)  the  Hebrew 
text  makes  a  total  of  365  years;  the  Septuagint  1015, 
or  by  another  text  of  the  Sept.  1115,  making  an 
excess  of  650  or  750  years.  The  sum  of  excess 
in  the  two  periods  is  1256  or  1356. The  follow- 
ing tables  will  serve  to  show  how  these  diverse  foot- 
ings are  produced.  The  numbers  given  by  Josephus 
have  some  interest :  I  therefore  place  them  in  the  table 
for  the  period  before  tlie  flood.     The  numbers  given  in 


CREATION    TO   THE    FLOOD. 


67 


the  Samaritan  text  are  frequently  brought  into  this 
comparison.  They  differ  considerably  from  either  of 
the  otlier  authorities,  but  seem  to  me  of  no  particular 
value,  and  are  therefore  omitted. 


1.  Adam 

2.  Seth 

3.  Enos 

4.  Cainan 

5.  Mahalaleel... 

6.  Jared 

7.  Enoch 

8.  Methusaleh.. 

9.  Lamech 

10.  Noah 

To  the  flood 

Total 


HEBREW  TKXT. 


130 

105 

90 

70 

65 

162 

65 

187 
182 
500 
100 


1656 


800 
807 
815 
840 
830 
800 
300 
782 
595 
450 


930 
912 
905 
910 
895 
962 
365 
9G9 
777 
950 


SEPTUAGINT. 


230 

205 
190 
170 
165 
162 
165 
^87 
188 
500 
100 

2262 


700 
707 
715 
740 
730 
800 
200 
782 
565 
450 


930 
912 
905 
910 
895 
962 
365 
969 
753 
950 


JOSEPIIUS. 


230 
205 
190 
170 
165 
162 
165 
187 
182 
500 
100 


2256 


700 
707 
715 
740 
730 
800 
200 
782 
595 
450 


930 
912 

905 
910 
895 
962 
365 
969 
777 
950 


*  The  Vatican  text  of  the  Seventy  makes  this  number  167. 

Comparing  the  Hebrew  figures  with  those  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  it  seems  plain  that  one  set  or  the  other  has 
been  altered  by  design.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  Septuagint  is  a  translation  from  Hebrew  into  Greek, 
made  about  285  B.  C,  which  is  not  far  from  1500  years 
prior  to  the  date  of  our  oldest  Hebrew  manuscripts. 
Also  that  Joscphus  wrote  in  the  latter  part  of  the  first 
century  after  Christ,  giving  Jewish  history  quite  faith- 
fully as  then  tmderstood. In  the  first  table  Joscphus 

sustains  the  Septuagint  with  only  the  one  slight  ex- 
ception of  making  Lamech  182  instead  of  188  at  the 
birth  of  Noah — his  total  being  thereby  six  years  less. 

The  reader  will  note  carefully  how  these  main  differ- 
ences between  the  Hebrew  and  the  Septuagint  stand. 
In  the  first  five  names  and  in  the  seventh,  the  years  in 
the  first  column — i.  e.  the  age  of  the  father  at  the  birth 
of  his  son,  are  less  by  100  in  the  Hebrew  than  in  the 
Septuagint,  or  (what  amounts  to  the  same  thing)  greater 


QS 


HEBREW    CHRONOLOGY. 


by  100  in  the  Septiiagint  than  in  tlie  Hebrew.  To  cor- 
respond, the  years  in  the  second  column  are  greater  by 
100  in  the  Hebrew  than  in  the  Septuagint,  so  that  the 
totals  as  they  appear  in  the  third  column  come  out  the 

same  in  both  texts. These  are  the  only  important 

variations.  The  other  is  a  slight  one — the  Septuagint 
adding  six  years  to  the  age  of  Lamech  at  Noah's  birth, 
or  the  Hebrew  taking  six  years  off  from  the  number  as 
in  the  Septuagint.     In  this  case  JosejDhus  is  with  the 

Hebrew  text. It  may  be  noted  also  that  in  the  cases 

of  Jared  and  Methuselah,  the  figures  agree. Now  the 

question  is — Which  text  is  pure,  and  ivhich  has  been  cor- 
rupted ? 

A  better  view  perhaps  of  the  whole  question  will  be 
obtained  if  at  this  point  we  study  the  corresponding 
table  for  the  period  from  the  birth  of  Arphaxad  (two 
years  after  the  flood)  to  the  call  of  Abram,  made  up 
from  the  Hebrew  text,  from  the  Septuagint  and  from 
the  Samaritan  text  of  Gen.  11 :  10-26: 


B. 


1.  Shem 

2.  Arphaxad 

3.  Salah 

4.  Eber 

5.  Peleg 

6.  Keu 

7.  Serug 

8.  Nahor 

9.  Terah 

10.  Abram,  liis  call 
Total 


HEBKKW  TKXT. 


•<9 


100 
35 
30 
34 
30 
3 

30 
29 

130 

[or  70] 

75 


565 


500 
403 
403 
430 
209 
207 
200 
119 

135 


600 
438 
433 
464 
239 
239 
230 
148 

205 


SEPTTTAGINT. 


^  ,0) 


100 
135 
130 
134 
130 
132 
130 
179 

[or  79] 

130 

.r  70] 

75 


1015 


500 
400 
330 
270 
209 
207 
200 
125 

135 


600 
535 
460 
404 
339 
339 
330 
304 

205 


SAMARITAN. 


100 
135 
130 

134 

130 
13 
130 
79 

70 


1015 


500 
303 
303 
270 
109 
107 
100 
69 

75 


600 
438 
433 
404 
239 
237 
230 
14-S 

145 


Here  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  important  differences 
are  of  the  same  sort  as  in  the  corresponding  table  before 


AUTHORITY   OF    THE    SEPTUAGINT-  69 

the  flood.  In  a  series  of  six  names  (Arphaxad  to  Serug 
inclusive)  the  Hebrew  has  100  years  less  in  each  life 
than  the  Septuagint  before  the  dividing  point.  In  the 
first  (the  important)  column,  the  Samaritan  agrees  with 
the  Septuagint.  The  years  in  the  second  and  in  the 
third  columns  are  quite  irregular.  In  the  case  of  Nahor 
the  Septuagint  exceeds  the  Hebrew  either  50,  as  in  the 
Alexandrian  text  of  the  Septuagint,  or  150  as  in  the 
Vatican  text. 

On  the  question— Which  of  these  texts,  the  Hebrew 
or  the  Greek,  has  been  corrupted?  it  may  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  : 

(a.)  That  it  is  the  original. (b.)  That  in  general 

it  has  been  preserved  by  the  Jews  with  extreme  care 
and  guarded  against  corruption  with  the  greatest  vig- 
ilance. 

.  In  favor  of  the  integrity  of  the  Septuagint  on  the 
points  now  in  question  may  be  urged — 

(a.)  As  to  the  period  from  Adam  to  Noah,  the  gen- 
eral concurrence  of  Josephus — an  independent  and  reli- 
able witness  as  to  the  state  of  all  the  Jewish  authorities 
of  his  time.  In  regard  to  the  period  after  the  flood, 
the  corresponding  concurrence  of  the  Samaritan  text  in 
all  vital  points. 

(b.)  The  fact  that  there  is  no  known  reason  for  in- 
tentional corruption;  while  over  against  this  it  has 
been  supposed  (with  how  much  probability  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say)  that  the  Jews  during  their  controversies 
with  the  Christians  on  the  great  question  of  the  Messiah 
(A.  D.  150-400)  found  it  for  their  interest  to  shorten 
the  period  from  the  creation  to  the  Christian  era  in 
order  to  prove  that  the  Messiah  had  not  yet  come. 
This  presupposes  it  admitted  on  both  sides  that  he  was 
to  come  within  some  given  number  of  years  after  the 
creation — perhaps  4500  or  5000.  We  have  already 
seen  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Hebrew  text  of  1  Kings 
6 :  1  is  in  error — perhaps  corrupted.  It  is  manifestly 
less  than  the  truth  by  the  difference  between  480 
and  591. 

(c.)  The  accuracy  of  the  Septuagint  chronology  on 
these  contested  points  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
called  in  question  until  at  least  400  years  after  the 
translation  Avas  made— never  before  A.  D.  150.  about  the 


70  HEBREW   CHEONOLOGY. 

date  when  the  controversy  arose  respecting  the  Chris- 
tian Messiah. 

(d.)  It  was  in  use  and  fully  accredited  before  the 
Christian  era. 

(e.)  It  was  used  and  its  authority  fully  admitted  by 

the  fathers  of  the  Christian  church. This  fact  and 

the  next  preceding  render  it  at  least  probable  that  the 
Hebrew  text  at  that  time  was  in  harmony  with  the  Se]> 
tuagint. 

(f.)  The  Chaldean  and  Egyptian  annals  seem  to  de- 
mand more  time  back  to  the  flood  or  to  the  creation 
than  the  present  Hebrew  text  admits,  and  therefore 
lend  their  influence  (to  be  taken  for  what  it  is  worth) 
in  favor  of  the  Septuagint  rather  than  the  Hebrew  be- 
cause of  its  longer  periods. 

(g.)  In  table  A  it  will  be  readily  seen,  comparing  the 
figures  of  the  first  column  in  the  Hebrew  with  the  cor- 
responding figures  in  the  Septuagint,  that  the  latter 
are  very  uniform  while  in  the  Hebrew  there  is  a  wide 
diversity  between  the  highest  and  the  lowest,  four 
standing  considerably  below  100  and  two  above  180. 
The  probability  seems  to  be  somewhat  against  so  wide 

diversity. In  table  B  the  Hebrew  figures  in  the  first 

column  are  sufficiently  near  each  other.  Out  of  seven 
in  succession  the  extremes  are  29  and  35.  We  have  an 
equal  uniformity  in  the  first  column  of  the  Septuagint 
and  of  the  Samaritan,  six  of  these  figures  being  the  same 
as  in  the  Hebrew  with  only  the  addition  of  100.  The 
Hebrew  figures  seem  low  relatively  to  the  total  years ; 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  Septuagint  figures  seem  too 
high.  Especially  is  this  objection  formidable  when  we 
remember  Abram's  surprise  that  God  should  promise 
him  a  son  when  100  years  old  (Gen.  17:  17).  "  Shall  a 
child  be  born  to  him  that  is  100  years  old?" — as  if  it 
were  a  thing  unknown  in  then  recent  history.  But  if 
all  Abram's  ancestors  back  to  the  flood  begat  their 
respective  sons  in  this  line  at  ages  ranging  from  135  to 
130  (or  all  but  Terah)  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  ac- 
count for  his  surprise.  The  best  we  could  say  would  be 
that  the  average  human  life  was  fast  lessening.  I  re- 
gard this  as  the  most  serious  objection  of  internal  char- 
acter against  the  integrity  of  the  Septuagint  text. 

On  the  whole  the  chronological  questions  at  issue  be- 
tween the  Hebrew  text  and  the  Septuagint,  turning 


usher's  system  too  short.  71 

upon  the  authority  of  their  respective  texts,  are  very 
much  complicated  and  not  a  little  doubtful.  I  have 
laid  before  the  reader  what  I  regard  as  the  main  argu- 
ments, and  rest  the  case  here,  hopeful  that  greater  light 
may  yet  arise,  leaning,  however,  toward  accepting  the 
authority  of  the  Septuagint. 

Reviewing  the  points  made  in  this  examination  of 
Hebrew  chronology,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  extend  the 
time  beyond  Usher's  system,  (a.)  In  the  period  of  the 
Judges  at  least  111  years;  (b.)  In  the  sojourn  in  Egypt 
215  years ;  and  (omitting  the  interval  between  Terah 
and  Abram  as  uncertain),  (c.)  In  the  interval  from  the 
flood  to  the  call  of  Abram  (if  the  Septuagint  be  fol- 
lowed) at  least  650  years,  and  perhaps  750 ;  and  (d.)  In 
the  period  from  the  creation  to  the  flood,  606  years — a 

total  of  1582  or  1682  years. Or,  to  put  the  case  in 

another  form,  we  put  the  Exodus  in  the  year  (B.  C.) 
1603;  Jacob's  going  into  Egypt,  B.  C.  2033;  the  call  of 
Abram,  B.  C.  2248;  and  by  the  Septuagint  the  flood, 
8265  or  3365;  and  finally,  by  the  Septuagint,  the  crea- 
tion, B.  C.  5527  or  5627. 

This  approximates  toward  harmony  with  the  re- 
ported results  of  the  Indian  chronology  which  locates 
the  creation  B.  C.  6174 ;  also  the  Baylonian,  B.  C.  6158, 
and  the  Chinese,  B.  C.  6157 — the  excess  of  the  latter 
above  the  longest  sacred  chronology  being  only  530 
years.  The  approach  toward  harmony  in  these  three 
not  sacred  chronologies — the  Indian,  the  Baylonian 
and  the  Chinese — the  extreme  difference  being  only  17 
years — is  certainly  a  remarkable  fact. 


CHAPTER    IV 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN  EESUMED. 

As  to  the  antiquity  of  Egyptian  art,  civilization  ai;d 
political  power,  there  are  two  main  questions  : 

1.  How  much  time,  after  Noah,  is  required  f 

2.  Hoio  much  can  he  allowed  in  harmony  with  tlu  '/nod  re- 
liable authorities  of  Hebreio  chronology  ^ 

1.  Under  the  head  of  time  required,  it  is  in  place  to 
note  the  circumstances  which  favored  the  very  rapid 
growth  of  Egyptian  civilization  and  also  of  the  numer- 
ical and  political  power  of  Egypt. 

(a.)  Mizraim,  the  father  of  Egypt,  who  gave  his  name 
to  the  kingdom,  was  a  grandson  of  Noah  and  the  father 
of  seven  sons  (Gen.  10:  1,  6,  13,  14).  Consequently  he 
started  early  and  strong. 

(b.)  The  fertility  of  the  Nile  valley  was  prodigious; 
it  was  capable,  therefore,  of  sustaining  an  immense 
population,  and. so  would  attract  other  people  besides 
the  lineal  descendants  of  Mizraim.  Every  thing  was 
propitious  for  the  early  and  raj^id  peopling  of  their 
country. 

(c.)  Fixed  residence,  coupled  with  cheap  bread  and 
abundance  of  it,  put  the  Egyptian  on  vantage-ground 
above  any  other  ancient  nation  for  the  early  culture  of 
art  and  for  rapid  growth  in  all  that  made  Egypt  great. 

(d.)  It  is  a  capital  mistake  to  assume  that  the  arts 
and  sciences  were  originated  in  Egypt  after  the  flood, 
and  that  therefore  a  very  long  time  must  be  allowed  for 
their  growth  and  development  up  from  utter  barbar- 
ism. For  there  was  surely  no  insignificant  amount  of 
art  and  science  among  the  builders  of  Noah's  ark.  The 
yet  earlier  history  of  the  race  names  "  the  father  of  all 
such  as  handle  the  harp  and  organ,"  and  also  "  an  in- 
structor of  everv  artificer  in  brass  and  iron  "  (Gen.  4 : 
21,  22). 

(e.)  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  Chaldean  tradi- 
tion of  the  deluge  as  prc^served  by  Berosus  sets  forth  the 
special  care  taken  by  Noah  to  preserve  and  transmit  to 
(72} 


AGE   OF   EQYPTIAN    CIVILIZATION.  73 

the  new-born  nations  after  the  flood  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences which  had  been  developed  before  that  catastro- 
phe. They  say  he  was  admonished  to  put  in  writing 
an  account  of  these  arts  and  sciences  and  deposit  it  in  a 
place  of  safety  until  the  flood  should  be  past.  This  tra- 
dition reveals  the  fact  of  a  current  belief  that  there  was 
such  knowledge  to  be  preserved,  and  that  means  were 
used  to  preserve  it. 

2.  Under  the  head  of  time  reqicired  it  remains  to  give  a 
synopsis  of  the  latest  and  most  reliable  results  of  Egyp- 
tologists in  regard  to  the  Egyptian  date  of  Menes,  their 
first  king,  and  of  the  building  of  the  three  great  pyra- 
mids— these  being  the  most  important  epochs  of  the 
earliest  Egyptian  antiquity. 

The  standard  historic  authority  (not,  however,  above 
suspicion)  is  Manetho,  an  Egyptian  priest  of  Heliopolis, 
of  the  age  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  (reigned  B.  C.  284- 
246),  who  is  supposed  to  have  made  up  from  the  ancient 
records  of  his  nation  a  list  of  thirty  or  thirty-one  dy- 
nasties of  Egyptian  kings,  beginning  with  Menes  and 
ending  with  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
giving  the  years  of  each  king's  reign.  Unfortunately  it 
comes  down  in  a  somewhat  fragmentary  condition,  as 
copied  by  Julius  Africanus  (died  A.  D.  232),  who  was 
himself  in  part  copied  by  Eusebius  (of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury) and  by  Syncellus  (flourished  A.  D.  780). 

Until  recently  it  has  been  the  current  opinion  of  the 
best  authorities  (still  held  by  many)  that  these  dynas- 
ties were  at  some  points  contem'porary  and  not  successive — 
some  of  them  reigning  in  Upper  Egypt,  others  in  Mid- 
dle or  Lower  Egypt,  at  the  same  time.  This  would  raise 
the  problems— How  many  and  which  were  contempo- 
rary? How  much  is  the  entire  period  actually  short- 
ened by  this  contemporaneousness? Moreover  it  has 

been  supposed  also  that  on  the  same  throne  there  has  been 
at  some  points  a  joint  occupancy  of  two  or  more  kings — 
father  and  son  perhaps,  or  of  some  rival  claimants;  so 
that  the  entire  duration  of  a  given  dynasty  may  be  less 
than  the  sum  of  the  reigns  of  its  enumerated  kings.  * 

*  It  ia  a  tflling  fact  that  according  to  Julius  Africanns,  Manctho's 
numbers  foi  the  entire  reigns  of  all  the  kings  foot  up  5404  years, 
while  the  aggregate  duration  of  all  the  dynasties  (within  the  same 
chronological  termini)  is  3555  years — i.  e.  the  sum  of  all  the  dy- 
nasties is  less  by  1849  years  than  the  sum  of  all  the  kijigs'  reigns 


74  ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

The  problem  of  whole  duration  being  complicated  by 
these  elements  of  uncertainty,  it  has  been  the  great 
aim  of  recent  investigation  to  gather  in  all  possible  aid 
from  the  monuments  and  bring  their  testimony  to  bear 
upon  the  tables  of  Manetho.  The  results  are  variously 
estimated  and  the  problem  can  not  be  regarded  as  yet 
fully  settled. 

I  place  together  the  opinions  of  some  of  the  best  au- 
tliorities: 

I.  For  the  date  of  Menes,  reputed  the  first  king. 

B.C. 

Bunsen's  latest  revised  recension  of  Egyptian  Chro- 
nology locates  him* 3059 

J.  P.  Thompson  at  least  as  far  back  as 3000 

R.  S.  Poole  (Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  p.  682) 2717 

Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  (see  "Aids  to  Faith,"  p.  294).2690 
Wm.  Palmer  (Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  p.  687) . . .  .2224 
The  "Old  Chronicle"  (very  valuable  authority).  ..2220 
Eratosthenes   and   Appollodorus,   original    author- 
ities, in  no  respect  inferior  to  Manetho 2793 

Other  estimates  from  less  reliable  authorities  carry 
him  back  yet  further. 

For  convenience  of  comparison  we  place  here  our  cor- 
rected Bible  Chronology  for  the  call  of  Abraham — viz. 
B.  C.  2248;  and  for  the  flood,  by  the  longest  Septuagint 
text,  B.  C.  3425,  and  by  the  shortest,  B.  C.  3325.  These 
dates  afford  ample  time  for  Mizraim,  grandson  of  Noah, 
to  make  a  home  and  found  a  community  in  Egypt,  in 
which  Menes  might  presently  reach  the  dignity  of 
being  the  first  king. 

II.   The  date  of  the  Pyramids. 

B.  C. 

Bunsen  in  his  latest  recension,  about 2600 

Prof.  C.  Piazzi  Smith,  by  astronomical  calculations. 2170 
George  Rawlinson  (in  "Aids  to  Faith,"  p.  297) 2400 

These  dates  may  be  compared  with  the  call  of  Abra- 

which  make  up  those  dynasties.  See  Burgess  on  the  Antiquity  of 
Man,  pp.  70,  73. 

*  Bunsen  is  cited  not  as  the  best  authority,  hut  as  one  of  the 
most  strenuous  for  an  exceedingly,  not  to  say  excessively,  long 
duration. 


UNITY   OF   THE   RACE.  75 

ham— B.  C.  2248. J.  P.  Thompson  (Genesis  and  Ge- 

ology,  p.  86)  says — "  The  three  great  pyramids  by  the 
common  consent  of  Egyptologers  are  assigned  to  the 
fourth  dynasty  of  kings  of  the  old  empire,  as  given  by 
Manetho." 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  dates  for  Menes,  the  first 
king,  and  for  the  oldest  pyramids  are  amply  provided 
for  within  the  extension  of  sacred  chronology  as  above 

indicated. Other    points    in    Egyptian    antiquities 

will  be  treated  of  in  their  place. 

On  the  general  subject  of  the  antiquity  of  man,  it  only 
remains  to  touch  briefly  the  subsidiary  questions  stated 
above,  p.  49. 

(a.)  Were  there  one  or  more  races  of  primeval  men,  ^jrc- 
Adamic,  hut  noio  extinct  ? 

So  far  as  reliable  facts  have  yet  come  to  light  there  is 
no  sufficient  evidence  of  the  affirmative.  Our  investi- 
gations into  the  antiquity  of  man  do  not  seem  to  de- 
mand a  longer  time  than  the  extended  sacred  chronol- 
ogy above  presented  affords.  It  is  perhaps  too  soon  to 
say  that  no  evidence  will  yet  appear  of  a  pre-Adamic 
race  not  in  existence  now.  But  it  will  be  soon  enough 
to  recognize  the  fact  when  the  evidence  shall  have  been 
adduced.  Till  then,  it  is  more  scientific  to  believe  only 
so  far  as  we  have  knowledge  based  on  evidence. 

(b.)  Have  there  been  various  head-centers  of  existing  human 

species,  or  only  one,  and  that    Adam? Or  (the    same 

question  in  different  form)  Are  all  the  living  varieties 
of  race  lineally  descended  from  Adam?  and  all  from 

Noah  ? These  questions  contemplate  the  well  known 

diversities  of  race  in  the  existing  human  family. 

The  classification  of  race  is  made  somewhat  variously 
by  different  authors ;  but  the  more  common  one  makes 
y^'re classes :  The  Caucasian,  or  white ;  The  Mongolian,  or 
yellow  ;  The  Ethiopian  negro  race,  or  black ;  The  Amer- 
ican, or  red  ;  and  the  Malayan,  or  brown.  (See  Webster.) 

Let  it  be  premised  in  the  outset  that  this  distinction 
of  race  is  one  of  variety  and  not  of  sj^ecies.  It  sits 
upon  the  surface  and  does  not  penetrate  to  the  inner 
nature.  All  these  races  have  the  same  anatomical 
structure ;  the  same  physical  organs ;  and  Avhat  is 
far  more,  the  same  intellectual  and  moral  nature.  Ev- 
ery-where  they  exhibit  the  common  effects  of  the  fall  of 


76  ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

Adam ;  the  same  depravity  of  moral  nature ;  the  same  com- 
mon need  of  redemption  by  Christ. These  are  cardinal 

traits  and  tests.     What  is  the  color  of  the  skin  compared 

witlithe  stamp  of  God's  image  upon  the  very  nature  itself? 

That  these  races  intermingle  and  cross  indefinitely  is 

sufficient  proof  that  they  are  only  varieties,  and  by  no 

means   distinct  species. Yet  this  of  itself  does  not 

prove  that  all  men  have  descended  from  one  first  man- 
Adam.  For  the  Lord  had  power  to  create  five  or  ten 
Adams,  each  the  head-center  of  as  many  distinct  races, 
yet  all,  of  the  one  species,  man.  So  far  therefore 
as  respects  the  creative  power  of  God  or  the  constitution 
of  man,  this  is  an  open  question :    What  then  are  the  facts? 

1.  The  Scriptures  imply  with  the  strongest  form  of 
implication  that  the  Adam  of  Genesis  is  the  father — the 
one  only  father — of  the  whole  human  race.  The  narrative 
of  the  creation  ;  of  the  fall ;  and  of  the  first  promise  of  re- 
demption— all  imply  this.  Paul  implies  it  in  those  pas- 
sages in  which  he  compares  the  ruin  of  the  race  through 
the  one  man  Adam  with  the  salvation  provided. for  the 
race  through  the  greater  second  Man,  .Jesus  Christ.  The 
strong  passages  are  Rom.  5  :  12-19  and  1  Cor.  15  :  21,  22. 

2.  The  diversities  of  race  may  be  accounted  for  as  pro- 
duced by  either  or  both  of  two  causes ;  (a.)  Climatic  influ- 
ences; (b.)  Sporadic,  abnormal  peculiarities,  appearing 
suddenly,  and  perpetuating  themselves  by  inheritance. 

3.  The  geographical  distribution  of  the  race  from  one 
head-center,  Adam,  is  certainly  possible.  There  is  some 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  relative  position  of  the  seas^ 
oceans,  and  continents  at  their  points  of  nearest  approach 
may  have  been  different  in  the  earlier  ages  from  the  pres- 
ent. 

4.  The  proofs  of  a  common  language  from  which  all 
known  human  languages  have  been  derived  consiDire  to 
sustain  the  common  origin  of  all  the  human  family. 

This  list  of  proofs  might  be  extended  and  the  argu- 
ment from  these  points  greatly  expanded. 

On  the  subordinate  question  whether  Noah  was  the 
common  ancestor  of  all  the  races  living  since  his  day, 
the  answer  turns  mainly  on  the  point  of  the  universal- 
ity of  the  deluge  ;  or  rather,  on  this  precise  point — Did 
the  deluge  destroy  all  the  living  men  except  those 
saved  with  Noah  in  the  ark? 

This  question  will  be  considered  in  its  place. 


CHAPTER    V. 


THE  SABBATH. 

It  has  been  alread}'-  suggested  that  the  division  of  the 
creative  work  into  six  days  rather  than  into  five  or  ten 
or  any  other  number,  contemphated  the  weekly  Sabbath 
and  was  designed  to  connect  this  Sabbath  for  man  with 
God's  rest  from  tliis  creative  work  so  that  the  Sabbath 
should  be  at  once  a  memorial  of  the  creation  and  should 
bear  in  itself  the  force  of  God's  example  in  his  relative 
periods  of  labor  and  of  rest.  God  created  this  beautiful 
earth  for  man's  abode,  and  man  to  dwell  upon  it ;  there- 
fore let  man  remember  his  Great  Creator  and  Father, 
thou2;htfully  contemplating  his  works,  admiring  and 
adoring,  worshiping  and  serving  the  Glorious  Author 
of  both  liis  being  and  his  blessings.  God  wrought  six 
days  and  rested  one  ;  so  let  man  throughout  all  the  ages 
of  earthl}^  time.  Such  is  the  relation  of  the  Sabbath 
to  God  and  to  man. Note  therefore 

1.  God  ordained  and  enjoined  if.  It  is  precisely  a 
divine  institution — not  man-made  but  heaven-born  ; 
an  outgrowth  of  God's  wisdom  and  love  for  his  offspring 
man — for  that  one  of  all  his  creatures  whom  only  God 
"made  in  his  own  image."  "God  blessed  the  seventh 
day  and  sanctified  it ;  because  that  in  it  he  had  rested 
from  all  his  work  which  God  created  and  made  "  (Gen. 
2:  3).  "Blessed  and  sanctified" — not  as  to  himself 
but  as  to  man ;  i.  e.  not  to  make  the  day  a  blessing  to 
himself  but  a  blessing  to  man;  not  to  make  the  day 
holy  to  himself  but  holy  as  to  man.  It  was  a  day  for  man 
to  keep  holy  and  a  day  laden  with  blessings  for  man  on 
condition  of  his  sacredlj''  observing  it  in  its  true  spirit 
and  intent. ^In  accord  with  this  view  are  our  Sav- 
ior's words  (Mk.  2 :  27),  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man  " — to  become  a  blessing  for  man,  one  of  the  great 
and  sure  channels  of  mercy  from  the  Great  Father  to 
his  obedient  children.  Thus  the  Sabbath  was  insti- 
tuted for  man  when  the  race  existed  in  Adam  and  Eve 
alone — one  of  the  institutions  revealed  from  God  and 

C77) 


78  THE   SABBATH. 

enjoined  in  Eden — good  for  man  before  his  fall,  and 
surely  not  less  needful  to  the  race  fallen  than  to  the 
race  sinless.  Let  it  be  distinctly  considered  that  this 
Sabbath  was  instituted  with  no  limitations  of  time  or 
race  or  nation — not  for  Eden  alone ;  not  for  the  race  be- 
fore their  fall  only — to  become  defunct  when  man  began 
to  sin ;  not  for  the  Jews  alone  to  be  only  a  Jewish  na- 
tional observance  and  to  become  obsolete  when  the  cere- 
monials of  Judaism  "  Avaxed  old  and  vanished  away." 
It  was  indeed  prescribed  anew  to  the  Hebrew  nation 
and  enforced  with  new  sanctions,  especially  by  his  ob- 
ligations to  his  covenant-keeping  God  for  national 
deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage;  but  this  weighs 
not  a  feather  against  the  doctrine  that  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man.  While  the  Sabbath  obligation,  thus 
heightened  by  new  mercies,  might  be  said  to  become 
more  sacred  and  obligatory  upon  the  Jewish  nation, 
this  fact  could  by  no  means  make  the  day  less  sacred  to 
the  Gentiles  of  every  land  and  of  all  time. 

2.  As  sustaining  scripturally  this  argument  for  the 
divine  appointment  of  the  Sabbath  for  the  race  of  man- 
kind, let  it  be  noted  that  the  seven-day  division  of  time 
is  unquestionably  traceable  to  this  primeval  institu- 
tion. It  did  not  originate  in  the  revolution  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis  which  makes  the  common  day,  nor  in  its 
revolution  in  its  orbit  round  the  sun  which  makes  the 
year,  nor  in  the  changes  of  the  moon  which  mark  off 
lunar  months.  It  is  an  abnormal — we  might  say  un- 
natural division  of  time — one  which  comes  not  of  nature 
but  from  a  source  above  nature — from  God  directly  and 
from  God  alone. 

Historically  we  find  this  seventh-day  period  in  ex- 
istence during  the  flood.  Noah  observed  it  and  sent  out 
the  raven  and  the  dove  after  seven-day  intervals  of 

time. It  becomes   most  distinctly  apparent  in  the 

recorded  history  of  the  manna  (Ex.  16:  22-30).  By 
the  natural  law  of  the  manna,  each  next  day's  supply 
was  distilled  each  night  upon  the  adjacent  grounds, 
ready  for  the  labor  of  gathering  it  in  the  early  morning. 
This  would  normally  make  labor  a  necessity  for  their 
subsistence  every  day,  leaving  them  no  Sabbath.  There- 
fore God  arrested  the  normal  law  at  the  Sabbath  point 
and  provided  a  double  supply  on  the  morning  next  pre- 
ceding, giving  none  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabl)ath. 


AS  OLD   AS    EDEN.  79 

Moreover  by  another  special  provision,  this  double  sup- 
ply was  kept  two  days  from  putrefaction — in  this  case 
only,  so  that  it  sufficed  perfectly  for  their  wants  till  the 
Sabbath  was  past.  Some  of  the  people,  oblivious  of  the 
Sabbath,  "  went  out  on  the  seventh  day  to  gather,  and 
found  none.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  How  long 
refuse  ye  to  keep  my  commandments  and  my  laws  ? 
See,  for  that  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the  Sabbath, 
therefore  he  giveth  you  on  the  sixth  day  the  bread  of 
two  days;  abide  ye  every  man  in  his  place;  let  no  man 
go  out  of  his  place  on  the  seventh  day"  (Ex.  16:  27-30). 
Most  decisively  therefore  does  this  narrative  assume 
that  the  Sabbath  was  not  then  a  new  institution  but 
an  old  one.  This  scene  and  these  words,  be  it  remem- 
bered, were  before  (not  after)  the  giving  of  the  ten 
commandments  from  Sinai. 

To  the  same  purport  is  the  form  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment ;  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy."  The  Lord  does  not  say — I  now  introduce  a  new 
and  special  precept.  His  words,  "  Eemember  "  etc.  do 
not  imply  this  but  imply  the  very  opposite  of  this.  So 
also  do  the  reasons  assigned;  viz.  God's  creative  work 
finished  in  six  daj^s  with  rest  on  the  seventh.  If  this 
were  a  reason  for  the  Sabbath,  it  was  certainly  good  for 
Adam  in  Eden  and  for  all  of  Adam's  children  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  Corresponding  to  this  we  may  note  that 
in  this  fourth  command  God  does  not  say — I  appoint 
each  seventh  day  for  a  sign  between  me  and  thee  and 
a  memorial  of  your  national  deliverance  from  Egyptian 
bondage  (as  many  have  maintained — to  make  out  that 
the  Sabbath  was  nothing  but  a  Jewish  institution)  but 
this  is  not  the  form  in  which  the  Sabbath  stands  in  the 
immortal  decalogue.  These  points — a  "  sign  "  between 
the  Lord  and  Israel  and  a  memorial  of  deliverance  from 
Egypt,  came  in  fitly  afterwards  as  a  supplement — an 
appendix  to  this  fourth  command  in  its  special  relations 
to  the  children  of  Israel.  See  Ex.  31  :  12-17  and  Ezek. 
20 :  12,  20,  with  my  Notes  on  the  passage  in  Ezekiel. 
But  these  special  and  superadded  relations  of  the  Sab- 
bath to  the  Hebrews  can  not  possibly  in  reason  dimin- 
ish the  obligation  of  the  original  Sabbath  ordained  for 
man  as  a  race  in  Eden. 

4.  To  complete  the  argument  for  a  perpetual  Sabbath, 
it  is  only  needful  to  add  that  our  Lord  re-endorsed  it 


80  MADE    FOR   MAN. 

and  gave  it  the  whole  weight  of  his  sanction  for  all 
future  time ;  and  in  these  several  ways  :  (a.)  By  re-en- 
dorsing the  entire  decalogue — "  I  am  not  come  to  de- 
stroy the  law  but  to  fulfill "  (Mat.  5 :  17).  The  scope 
of  the  sermon  on  the  mount — (of  which  these  words  are 
a  part)  proves  that  his  eye  was  on  the  great  moral  law 
of  ten  commandments.  Plainly  he  could  not  have 
spoken  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonial  law,  and  therefore 
must  have  spoken  of  that  special  code  of  precejDts  of 

which  the  Sabbath  was  the  fourth. (b.)  He  endorsed 

the  Sabbath  as  perpetual  and  universal  by  solemnly 
declaring — "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man^'  (Mk.  2  : 
27). (c.)  Also  by  affirming  it  to  be  his  own  prerog- 
ative to  enforce  the  Sabbath  and  to  set  forth  its  spirit 
and  expound  its  obligations.  "  Therefore,"  because  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  for  all  men  of  all  time, 
"  therefore,  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath" 
(Mk.  2 :  28).  It  was  in  order  to  relieve  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath  (as  then  currently  expounded)  from  burden- 
some, excessive  and  injurious  constructions  which  hu- 
man nature  could  not  bear  and  which  were  alien  from 
its  true  spirit,  that  our  Lord  confronted  the  traditions 
of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  and  sought  to  place  this 

great  institution  upon  its  true  and  eternal  basis. 

(d.)  Finally  as  showing  historically  that  our  Lord  had 
never  a  thought  of  terminating  the  obligation  of  the 
Sabbath  at  his  death  but  designed  its  obligation  to  be 
perpetual,  we  have  this  very  incidental  word — "  Pray 
ye  that  your  flight  be  not  in  the  winter,  neither  on  the 
"Sabbath  day"  (Mat.  24  :  20).  \V'hen  the  Roman  armies 
should  bring  down  the  judgments  of  the  Almighty  upon 
the  doomed  city  of  the  murderers  of  Jesus,  his  followers 
must  flee  to  the  mountains  across  the  Jordan ;  yet  let  it 
be  their  prayer  that  they  might  not  be  compelled  to  flee 
either  in  the  severity  of  winter's  cold,  nor  on  the  holy 
Sabbath.  Flight  for  life  might  be  morally  admissible 
even  on  this  sacred  day ;  yet  it  would  be  most  appro- 
priate to  pray  that  God  would  spare  them  this  moral 
trial  and  not  subject  them  to  the  necessity  of  labor  on 

this  holy  day. In  these  various  ways  our  Lord  most 

fully  and  undeniably  re-endorsed  the  Sabbath  as  for  all 
time. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


THE   EVENTS   OF    EDEN. 


The  first  human  pair  have  their  first  eartlily  want 
met  by  their  Maker  in  a  home — a  quiet,  beautiful  spot 
(precisely  xvhere  we  know  not,  but  near  the  source  of  the 
great  Euphrates)  in  which  trees  of  beauty  for  the  eye 
and  of  nutritious  fruitage  for  subsistence  supplied  some 
pleasing  occupation  for  the  mind  and  wholesome  labor 
for  the  hand ;  where,  happy  in  each  other's  love  and 
blessed  with  the  freest  communion  with  their  Maker, 
not  a  thing  was  lacking  to  fill  their  cup  of  joy.  If  it 
might  only  last — and  for  this,  nothing  more  was  need- 
ful save  that  their  moral  nature  should  be  cultured, 
their  faith  and  love  and  obedience  strengthened  up  to 
the  point  of  being  thoroughly,  fully  confirmed :  then 
their  lot  would  have  been  most  blessed.  As  a  requisite 
means  for  such  culture,  God  subjected  their  faith  and 
obedience  to  one  gentle  test — to  one  point  of  moral  trial. 
To  have  endured  this  successfully  would  have  made 
them  morally  stronger  and  have  drawn  them  yet  nearer 
in  loVe  and  trust  to  their  Great  Father;  but  to  fall 
before  it — Ah !  this  is  the  experience  of  human  life,  but 
too  well  known  in  its  fruits  of  sin  and  woe  ! 

The  history  of  these  scenes  is  before  us  in  this  third 
chapter  of  Genesis.  Our  leading  inquiries  may  fitly 
take  the  following  order : 

I.  Is  this  description  syiiiholic  or  Mstoric;  i.  e.  sym- 
bolic of  all  human  sinning ;  or  historic  as  to  this  first 
sin,  its  antecedents  and  immediate  consequents  ? 

II.  The  moral  trial; 

III.  The  temptation; 
l\.  The  fall ; 

V.  The  first  promise  ; 

VI.  The  curse,  being  the  first  installment  of  the  great 
penalty  upon  transgression. 

I.  The  preliminary  question  as  to  the  character  of 
this  record  demands  a  brief  notice.  In  my  view  it  is 
not  to  be  taken  as  a  symbolic  representation  of  the  uni- 

(81) 


82  EVENTS   OF    EDEN. 

versal  fact  that  the  race  yield  to  temptation  and  fall 
before  it,  but  as  a  historical  account  of  the  first  human 
sin — including  the  person  of  the  tempter  and  his  meth- 
ods ;  the  working  of  his  temptations  upon  Eve  and  then 
upon  Adam  ;  and  the  first  group  of  immediate  results. 

Under  this  construction  of   the  narrative,  I   find 

here  a  real  serpent,  and  a  real,  not  a  merely  symbolical, 
Satan — the  serpent  supplying  the  external  guise,  the 
sense-medium;  but  Satan,  the  intelligent  mind,  the 
malign  purpose.  The  narrative  seems  to  indicate  that 
Satan  chose  the  serpent  for  his  service  because  of  his 
well  known  subtlety.  It  is  of  small  account  to  push 
our  conjectures  on  this  point  beyond  what  is  written 
(here  and  elsewhere)  ;  but  it  is  supposable  that  the 
serpent  was  Satan's  fittest  instrument  as  being  less 
likely  to  excite  surprise  by  his  uttered  words. 

That  this  record  speaks  of  a  real  serpent  and  of  a 
personal  devil  I  am  constrained  to  believe,  because, 

1.  This  is  the  obvious  sense  of  the  narrative — is  the 
construction  which  the  mass  of  readers  most  naturally 
put  upon  it,  supposing  them  to  be  unsophisticated, 
holding  their  minds  in  harmony  with  the  simplicity  of 
the  Scripture  narrative  and  so  in  a  mood  to  take  most 
readily  its  obvious  sense. 

2.  This  construction  is  implied  and  thereby  endorsed 
in  subsequent  scriptures :  e.  g.  Isaiah  (65 :  25)  having 
said — "The  wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  together" — • 
peace  and  love  supplanting  violence  and  cruelty — adds, 
"  And  dust  shall  be  the  serpent's  meat " — with  manifest 
reference  to  this  primal  curse  on  Satan's  special  agent. 
See  also  a  similar  reference  in  Solomon's  Messianic 
Psalm   (72 :   9) :   "  His   enemies   shall   lick   the   dust." 

Also  Micah  7:  17. These  allusions  presuppose  a  real 

serpent  in  the  scenes  of  Eden. 

That  the  real  personal  devil  was  there,  the  responsi- 
ble agent,  is  surely  implied  by  our  Lord  (Jno.  8 :  44)  : 
"  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil ;  he  ivas  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning  and  abode  not  in  the  truth  because  there  is 
no  truth  in  him."  So  also  John  (1  Jno.  3:  8):  "He 
that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil,  for  the  devil  sinneth 
from  the  beginning,"  i.  e.  ever  since  that  first  great  sin 
in  tempting  our  common  mother.  "For  this  purpose 
was  the  Son  of  God  manifested  that  he  might  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil " — according  to  that  first  prom- 


IS   THE    NARRATIVE    HISTORIC?  83 

ise — "I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed:  it  shall  bruise  thy 
head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  Paul  inci- 
dentally gives  his  construction  of  this  narrative :  "  The 
God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet  shortly" 
(Rom.  16 :  20)  ;  and  our  Lord  also  in  Luke  (10:  18, 19) : 
"  I  beheld  Satan  fall  as  lightning  from  heaven ;  and  I 
will  give  you  power  to  tread  on  serpents  and  scorpions, 
and  over  all  the  power  of  the  enemy."  In  2  Cor.  11:  3, 
Paul  gives  us  a  plain,  historic  version  of  this  narra- 
tive— "But  I  fear  lest  by  any  means,  as  the  serpent  be- 
guiled Eve  through  his  subtlety,  so  your  minds  should 

be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  tbat  is  in  Christ." 

But  Satan  is  perhaps  most  sharply  identified  in  the 
descriptive  points  made  by  John  (Rev.  12  :  9  and  20 :  2) : 
"And  the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old  serpent, 
called  the  devil  and  Satan,  who  deceiveth  the  whole 

world." "And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old 

serpent  who  is  the  devil  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a 
thousand  years."  Our  Lord,  as  also  Paul  and  John,  saw  in 
this  narrative  a  real  Satan  and  also  the  veritable 
serpent,  made  his  instrument. 

3.  That  Satan  should  use  such  an  instrument  is  man- 
ifestly within  and  not  beyond  his  power.  It  has  in  cer- 
tain points  its  analogy  in  the  demoniacal  possessions 
recorded  by  the  Evangelists.  As  to  power  he  is  spoken 
of  as  the  god  and  prince  of  this  world,  "  the  prince  of  the 
power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience." 

The  Scriptures  attribute  to  holy  angels  great  power 
over  material  agencies ;  and  with  scarcely  less  fullness  to 
Satan  and  his  legions  also.  In  the  case  of  demoniacal 
possessions,  nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  the  man- 
ifestations of  Satanic  viind,  mind  speaking  through  hu- 
man lips  indeed,  yet  giving  utterance  to  Satanic 
thought.  "We  know  thee  who  Thou  art."  "What 
have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God?  Art 
thou  come  to  torment  us  before  the  time  "  ?  (Mat.  8 :  29 
f.nd  Mk.  5 :  7  and  Luke  8  :  28.     See  also  Acts  19  :  15.) _ 

4.  Other  points  in  this  narrative  are  recognized  in 
the  Scriptures  as  historic  and  not  merely  symbolic. 
Paul  wrote  to  Timothy  (1  Tim.  2:  13-15) :  "For  Adam 
was  first  formed,  then  Eve,  and  Adam  was  not  deceived; 
but  the  woman  being  deceived,  was  in  the  transgres- 


84  EVENTS   OF    EDEN. 

sion.  Notwithstanding,  she  shall  be  saved  in  child- 
bearing,"  etc. — all  referring  very  definitely  to  this  nar- 
rative as  fact  and  not  merely  drapery  illustrating  some 

universal   truth. To  the  same  purport  is  Paul   in 

Rom.  5 :  12,  19 :  "As  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world  and  death  by  sin."  "As  by  one  man's  disobedi- 
ence many  were  made  sinners,"  etc.  So  also  1  Cor.  15  : 
21,22. 

5.  The  sin  of  the  first  pair  stands  in  its  appropriate 
historic  place  here  (not  a  merely  symbolic  place),  being 
immediately  connected  with  the  curse  upon  the  serpent 
(and  under  him  upon  the  devil)  ;  upon  the  woman  also, 
and  the  man  and  the  ground ;  also  with  the  expulsion 
from  Eden  and  man's  changed  life,  from  the  ease  and 
the  delights  of  Eden  to  sweating  labor  upon  a  stubborn 

soil,  in  perpetual  conflict  wdth  noxious  growths. 

These  considerations  suffice  in  my  view  to  prove  that 
this  narrative  must  be  taken  as  simple  history,  and  not 
as  symbolic  drapery  employed  to  set  forth,  not  these 
specific  events,  but  only  the  general  truth  of  human  de- 
pravity. 

II.     The  Moral  Trial 

Provision  was  made  for  this  trial  by  one  simple  pro- 
hibition, forbidding  to  them  the  fruit  of  one  tree  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden.  Of  all  else  they  might  eat  as  they 
pleased.  All  they  could  need  for  subsistence  or  enjoy- 
ment was  freely  permitted  them;  but  the  fruit  of  this 
one  tree  they  might  not  eat  on  pain  of  death.  This 
was  the  test  of  their  obedience.  This  was  to  discipline 
their  faith  and  their  love  toward  their  divine  Father. 
There  the  tree  stood  before  their  eye?,  in  the  midst  of 
the  garden— every  sight  of  it  suggesting  their  Great 
Father's  word — not  to  be  eaten  at  all  on  penalty  of 
death.  Will  they  cheerfully  and  even  joyfully  den}'' 
themselves  so  much  for  the  love  they  bear  their  Father  ? 
So  long  it  shall  be  well  with  them.  Every  time  they 
put  down  the  temptation  to  eat  of  it  tliey  will  become 
stronger  in  their  spirit  of  obedience  and  more  happy  in 
God.  It  was  a  means  of  continual  culture  in  holiness, 
ever  leading  onward  and  upward  into  deeper  com- 
munion with  God  and  more  assured  and  joyous  sub- 
mission to  his  will,  more  strength  of  purpose  in  obedi- 
ence, more  delight  in  whatever  self-denial  obedience 


THE   MORAL   TRIAL.  85 

might  involve.  Surely  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
they  might  make  this  means  of  moral  culture  a  price- 
less blessing  to  their  souls.  How  could  paradise  meet 
the  greatest  of  all  their  wants — the  want  of  their  new- 
born souls — without  this  one  provision  for  proving 
and  invigorating  their  loving  obedience  to  their  God? 

Need  we  then  raise  the  question —  Wliat  was  God's  pur- 
pose in  this  2'>Tohibition  ?  The  answer  is  at  hand — To  ac- 
complish precisely  this  result ;  to  give  the  first  human 
pair  a  test  of  obedience  which  should  be  naturally  a 

means  of  moral  culture  and  of  growth  in  holiness. 

The  horrible  thought — that  God  meant  and  sought  to 
make  them  sin — how  can  we  say  less  of  it  than  that  it  is 
born  of  Satan  1  For  it  assumes,  as  Satan  did  in  the 
garden,  that  God  sought,  not  their  good,  but  their  hurt; 
is  not  benevolent  but  malevolent!  Our  souls  recoil 
from  this  assumption.  Doth  not  the  Scriptures  say 
truly  (Jas.  1:  13),  "Neither  tempteth  he  any  man"? 

Never,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  him  into  sin ! Is 

it  replied: — God  certainly  knew  they  would  eat  that 
forbidden  fruit ;  the  answer  is,  Undoubtedly  he  did ;  but 
this  proves  nothing  as  to  his  purpose  and  aim  in 
placing  them  under  this  moral  trial.  If  it  be  yet  said — 
He  might  have  made  the  trial  so  much  less  that  they 
would  have  borne  it  successfully :  the  proper  answer  is, 
Who   knows  that?     Who  is  wiser  or  more  loving  in 

such  an  emergency  than  God? Consider  also  that 

while  God  knew  they  would  fall,  he  also  knew  that  he 
could  redeem  the  race  through  his  Son,  gloriously;  and 
so  could  make  the  wrath  of  both  Avickecl  men  and  dev- 
ils subserve  his  praise.  We  may  account  this  to  be  his 
reason  for  subjecting  the  first  pair  to  a  form  of  trial 
(every  way  good  and  Avise  in  itself  and  well  designed) — 
although  he  foresaw  they  would  fall  before  it.  It  was 
still  (as  he  saw  the  case  through  to  its  remotest  end) 
better  than  any  other  form  of  trial ;  better  than  no  trial 
at  all,  supposing  such  a  thing  in  their  case  possible. 

Thus  may  we  vindicate  God's  ways  in  this  transac- 
tion. It  was  kind  in  him  to  grant  for  their  free  use 
every  other  fruit  in  the  garden — all  they  could  need. 
It  was  right  that  he  should  impose  some  tost  of  their 
obedience  and  love.  Indeed  it  was  a  natural  necessity 
of  their  moral  nature  that  this  question  of  obeying  God, 
always   and  every-where,  should   come   to  issue.      As 


86  EVENTS   OF    EDEN. 

surely  as  they  were  moral  beings,  capable  of  knowing 
duty  and  of  doing  it,  born  into  being  with  susceptibil- 
ities to  happiness  which  sometimes  must  be  virtuously 
denied  at  the  demand  of  God  and  of  the  greater  good,  so 
surely  they  must  meet  this  trial  sooner  or  later,  in  one 
form  or  another,  until  they  become  so  strong  in  their 
holy  purpose,  so  fixed  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  obedience 
to  God  that  temptation  to  sin  is  of  course  spurned  away 
and  duty  is  done  for  evermore  without  a  question. 
Moral  trial,  therefore,  if  not  in  this  precise  form,  yet  in 
some  analogous  form,  is  the  necessary  means  of  devel- 
oping moral  strength  and  confirmed  holiness ;  is  there- 
fore the  natural  pathway  to  the  blessedness  of  heaven. 
Thus,  with  no  wavering  of  doubt,  we  may  vindicate 
God's  ways  toward  man  in  this  first  great  moral  trial 
brought  on  our  race. 

In  what  sense  was  this  called,  "  The  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil "  ?  (Gen._  2 :  9,  17  and  3 :  5) It 

brought  the  knowledge  of  evil  by  fearful  experience; 
the  knowledge  of  good  to  a  certain  extent  by  the  fresh- 
ened sense  of  contrast  with  the  experience  of  evil.  Sin 
gives  to  moral  beings  such  knowledge  of  good  and  of 
evil — knowledge  it  were  better  far  for  them  they  should 
never  have! 

Was  the  fruit  of  this  tree  a  natural  poison?  We  do  not 
know.  God  has  not  told  us.  It  may  have  been  or  it 
may  not.  God  does  not  base  his  prohibition  on  this 
ground.  There  are  other  grounds,  all-sufficient,  without 
this.  It  might  perhaps  be  urged  with  some  plausibil- 
ity that  the  analogy  of  this  earthly  life  favors  the  affirm- 
ative inasmuch  as  for  the  most  part,  God's  prohibitions 
of  food  and  indeed  of  animal  indulgence  in  general,  are 
based  on  this  principle — Abstain  from  poison  ;  do  thy- 
self no  harm.  God  is  not  wont  to  prohibit  aught  that 
is  good  for  food  or  pleasurable  to  any  sense,  except 
because  it  is  pernicious,  poisonous. 

What  was  this  threatened  penalty?  Death,  in  ivhat 
sense  ? 

In  the  same  sense  in  which  it  actually  falls  upon  all 
who  reject  Christ  and  fail  of  his  salvation.  Upon  such 
the  curse  of  the  law  falls  without  abatement  or  modifi- 
cation. Their  doom  must  surely  be  taken  as  the  expo- 
nent and  measure  of  the  meaning  of  this  threatened 
death.     Of  course  it  includes  the  loss  of  God's  favor; 


THE    TEMPTATION.       '  87 

the  incurring  of  his  frown. That  eternal  death  did 

not  begin  instantly  was  due  to  arrest  of  judgment  for  a 
new  probation  under  the  scheme  of  redemption;  and 
to  nothing  else. 

Was  cultural  death  a  part  of  this  penalty  f Plainly- 
natural  death  became  the  doom  of  the  race,  equally  of 
the  redeemed  and  of  the  unredeemed,  under  the  scheme 
of  redemption — a  scheme  which  carried  with  it  more  or 
less  of  earthly  life  before  the  death  of  the  body.  But 
this  proves  nothing  as  to  the  breadth  of  the  original 
threatening — "  Thou  shalt  surely  die.''  What  would 
have  been  in  respect  to  natural  death  if  no  scheme  of 
redemption  had  intervened  and  the  original  threatening 
had  been  executed  at  once,  we  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing. Mortality  as  at  present  resting  on  the  race  and 
terminating  in  natural  death  is  one  of  the  incidents  of 
the  new  probation  under  mercy,  and  gives  us  no  light 
on  the  other  question,  viz.  What  if  no  mercy  had  come 
in?  In  general,  it  is  of  small  account  for  us  to  ask. 
What  would  have  been  if  something  else  had  happened 
otherwise  than  it  did?  e.  g.  What  would  have  taken 
place  if  the  first  pair  had  endured  all  temptation? 
How  long  would  the  trial  have  continued  ?  Would  it 
have  terminated  by  removing  the  tree,  or  by  taking  off 
the  prohibition,  or  only  by  such  complete  victory  over 
temptation  that  its  presence  could  have  been  only  a  joy 

and  a  triumph  ? What  part  would  have  been  borne 

by  "  the  tree  of  life  "  ?  And  after  their  sin,  what  if 
they  had  put  forth  their  hand  to  take  and  eat  of  this 

life-tree  ?• Speculations  of  this  sort  never  make  men 

wiser. 

III.   The  Temptation. 

On  this  point  the  history  is  remarkably  full  and  dis- 
tinct. To  those  who  have  given  attention  to  what  may 
be  called  the  law  of  temptation — the  way  it  works  and 
gains  its  object — little  explanation  of  the  narrative  is 

needed. We  may  note  tliat  Satan  took  care  not  to  be 

recognized  as  an  enemy;  that  he  made  his  first  ap- 
})roaches  with  subtlest  caution  and  skill,  bringing  up 
the  case  of  the  proliibited  fruit  as  a  question — Is  it  in- 
deed so  that  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  every 
tree?  As  if  he  would  say— What  do  you  think  about 
this  prohibition?     Is  it  quite  pleasq,nt  to  be  put  under 


88  EVENTS   OF    EDEX. 

such  restraint  ? When  Eve  recited  the  words  of  God's 

prohibition  and  added  sometliing  more — viz.  "  neither 
shall  ye  touch  it,"  it  is  at  least  supposable  that  Satan 
had  already  sprung  in  her  mind  the  feeling  that  the 
injunction  was  indeed  very  stringent,  perhaps  unrea- 
sonably and  unkindly  so.  It  is  plain  that  Satan  is  em- 
boldened and  now  ventures  to  strike  out  squarely  against 
God.  Putting  his  word  unqualifiedly  against  God's 
word,  "ye  shall  not  surely  die,"  he  became  "the  father 
of  lies,"  "a  liar  from  the  beginning,"  and  threw  all  the 
weight  of  his  influence  into  the  scale  to  break  down 
Eve's  confidence  in  God's  veracity  as  well  as  in  his  real 
kindness.  Then  with  Satanic  cunning  he  took  advan- 
tage of  the  name  given  to  this  forbidden  tree  to  make 
Eve  think  that  knowledge,  great  and  enviable  like  that 
of  the  gods,  would  come  from  eating  this  fruit.  Artfully 
he  charges  that  God  knew  this,  and  sought  by  the  pro- 
hibition to  debar  them  from  this  boon  of  knowledge  so 
desirable.  The  gilded  bait  was  swallowed  but  too  soon 
and  too  thoughtlessly !  Eve  had  listened  ;  she  had  more 
than  half  believed  these  lies ;  she  still  dallied  with  the 
temptation ;  she  looked  again  at  the  tree  and  its  fruit ; 
she  saw  it  beautiful  and  seemingly  good  for  food ;  and, 
far  beyond  this,  it  appealed  to  her  imagination  as  giv- 
ing her  that  unknown  wisdom,  like  the  wisdom  of  the 

gods — so  she  took  of  it  and  ate/ Then  she  brought 

of  it  to  her  husband.  Her  words  to  him  are  not  on 
record.  We  are  left  to  imagine  how  her  example  may 
have  wrought  upon  him,  and  sympathy  also  with  her 
doom  if  Adam  thought  of  that ;  how  the  feeling — I  must 
stand  or  fall,  live  or  die,  with  this  only  human  friend  I 
have  on  earth — may  have  overcome  every  scruple.  So 
far  as  appears  he  yielded  without  a  word  of  question, 
much  less  of  reproof.  He  yielded — and  the  awful  deed 
was  done ! 

IV.   The  Fall  and  its  Immediate  Effects. 

The  first  human  pair  are  in  sin ;  they  have  risen 
against  God  their  Maker  in  rebellion.  Instantly  "their 
yyes  are  opened."  They  realize  how  strangely  differ* 
ent  are  the  sensations  that  come  after  sin  from  those 
that  are  before.  The  false  hopes,  the  fascinations,  the 
bewildering,  bewitching  charms  of  temptation's  hour 
give  place  to  the  awful  sense  of  foU}^  and  of  wrong — a 


THE    CURSE   AND   THE    PROMISE.  89 

sense  of  passing  suddenly  into  a  world  of  solemn  and 
dread  realities  pertaining  to  God,  duty,  and  doom. 
"  They  knew  that  they  were  naked " ;  an  awful  sense 
of  being  unfit  to  be  seen;  a  consciousness  of  being  ugly, 
loathsome,  as  if  the  inner  guilt  of  their  souls  stood  out 
visibly  over  their  whole  bodies — this  seems  to  have  been 
their  first  sensation,  and  they  set  themselves  to  sewing 
fig-leaf  coverings.  As  evening  drew  on  they  heard  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden.  That 
voice  which  up  to  this  day  had  been  their  sweetest 
music  now  fills  their  very  gouls  with  shame  and  terror. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Adam's  words  and  his  acts 

also  make  so  much  account  of  his  nakedness,  ajiparently 
of  person.  Was  it  that  his  convictions  of  sin  and  guilt 
were  yet  superficial,  so  that  his  sense  of  shame  for  his 
sin  turned  his  thought  first  to  his  personal  nakedness  ? 
Had  he  yet  to  learn  that  "God  looketh  on  the  heart"  ? 
If  so  the  Lord's  searching  question  must  have  met  his 
case — "  Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked"?  How 
camest  thou  by  this  sense  of  shame,  this  dread  of  the 
eye  of  thy  divine  Father?  "Hast  thou  eaten  of  the 
tree  whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest  not 

eat"? Adam  could    not  do  otherwise   than  confess 

his  sin,  yet  with  an  apology  which  almost  or  quite  re- 
flected upon  God ;  "  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be 
with  me,  she  gave  me,  and  I  did  eat."  The  woman  too 
sought  to  screen  herself  somewhat  under  the  apology 
of  a  subtle  temptation.  "The  serpent  beguiled  me  and 
I  did  eat." 

The  secondary  results  of  the  fall  appear  in  the  curse 
severally  pronounced  of  God  upon  the  serpent,  upon  the 

Avoman,  and  upon  the  ground  for  his  sake. As  to  the 

serpent,  since  he  stands  before  us  in  this  entire  transac- 
tion as  a  double  character,  so  the  curse  upon  him  comes 
in  a  sort  of  double  meaning.  The  most  obvious  sense 
of  the  passage  assigns  a  measure  of  this  curse  to  the 
literal  serpent — the  animal  under  the  guise  of  whom 
Satan  beguiled  his  victim.  But  the  responsibility  and 
guilt  being  upon  the  very  Satan,  this  curse  falls  chiefly 
on  him.  He  is  degraded,  doomed  to  eternal  shame; 
and  in  his  great  conflict  against  God  and  goodness,  to 
disgrace,  defeat  and  damning  ruin.  Words  of  telling 
significance  were  these; — "I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  aad  he» 


90  EVENTS   OF    EDEN. 

seed ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his 
heel."  The  serpent  guilefully  assumed  to  be  your 
friend.  I  tear  ofl'his  mask  and  expose  him  in  his  true 
nature ;  I  ordain  eternal  enmity  between  serpent  and 
woman,  and  pre-eminently  between  the  serpent's  seed — 
the  children  of  the  devil — and  the  great,  distinguished 
Personage  known  as  "the  seed  of  the  woman."  This 
enmity  underlies  the  mighty  conflict  of  the  ages — 
Christ  and  Satan  each  leading  on  his  host  to  battle 
and  no  peace  or  even  truce  arresting  hostilities  till  the 
victory  of  the  King  of  Kings  shall  be  complete  and  in- 
effably glorious.  Thus  the  first  relation  between  ser- 
pent and  woman — that  of  assumed  but  treacherous 
friendship — develops  into  everlasting  enmity — God,  her 
real  friend,  becoming  in  the  person  of  his  incarnate 
Son,  born  of  woman — her  champion  and  the  mighty 
antagonist  of  Satan  and  all  his  offspring.  Here  and 
thus  mercy  breaks  in  upon  this  scene  of  sin  and  ruin, 
and  God  begins  the  wonderful  process  of  making  the 
Avrath    of    Satan    the    occasion    of   his    own    infinite 

glory. The  words  which  put  so  tersely  the  result  of 

this  great  conflict  take  their  shape  and  borrow  their 
drapery  from  the  guise  under  which  Satan  here  ap- 
pears— that  of  the  crawling  serpent.  He  shall  wound 
the  heel  of  his  opponent — the  natural  place  for  the  ser- 
pent's bite;  but  his  own  head  bruised  and  crushed,  shall 

end  the  fight. This  first  promise  of  God  to  our  fallen 

race  sweeps  the  eye  over  the  whole  vast  field  of  moral 
conflict  between  Christ  and  Satan,  and  testifies  of  glori- 
ous victory  over  Satan  as  the  sublime  result.  It  was 
inexpressibly  kind  in  the  Lord  to  bring  in  these 
gleams  of  light  and  hope  upon  the  trembling  souls  of 
the  first  sinning  pair  before  he  proceeded  to  speak  of 
the  specific  forms  of  suffering  that  must  righteously 
come  upon  them  and  their  ofispring  as  the  testimony 
of  God's  displeasure  against  sin.  Having  said  this,  he 
proceeds  to  the  curse  upon  woman — sorrow  in  the  birth 
of  offspring ;  and  the  curse  upon  man — toil  and  struggle 
for  subsistence  on  a  soil  prolific  in  noxious  growths  and 
demanding  labor  as  a  condition  of  fruitfulness. 

Yet  let  the  minor  points  of  this  scene  sink  into  the 
shade  in  the  presence  of  the  sublime  glory  of  the  great 
first  promise.  In  the  light  of  this  we  see  that  though 
Satan  plotted  the  ruin  of  the  race,  yet  God  counter- 


THE   FIEST   PROMISE.  91 

plotted  the  ruin  of  Satan  and  the  salvation  of  the  masses 
of  mankind.  When  it  might  have  seemed  that  all  was 
lost,  it  proved  that  this  extremity  was  God's  great  op- 
portunity, for  his  strong  arm  was  made  bare  for  help 
and  real  victory.  This  is  the  birth-hour  of  most  mo- 
mentous issues.  Sin  came  in  upon  Eden  and  upon 
earth ;  and  many  a  bitter  sorrow,  many  a  cup  of  suffer- 
ing and  woe,  must  needs  follow  in  its  train;  but  Re- 
demption comes  in  also;  it  enters  upon  its  co-ordinate 
work  to  save  the  soul  from  sin  and  from  eternal  death 
and  to  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness.  The  history 
of  our  world  in  its  most  vital  aspects  is  foreshadowed 
here  in  this  first  short  meeting  of  their  Maker  with  this 
sinning  pair.  The  spoken  recorded  words  were  few, 
but  their  significance  was  momentous;  the  sweep  of 
their  bearing,  the  issues  of  the  divine  policy  here  indi- 
cated, were  destined  to  fill  up  the  ages  of  time  with 
stirring  and  strange  conflict,  and  to  send  their  influ- 
ence down  through  the  endless  ages  of  man's  being  and 
of  God's  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  VI I. 


FEOM  THE  FALL  TO  THE  FLOOD. 

1.  Notes  on  special  passages. 

In  Gen  4:  1  our  English  version  stands — "I  have 
gotten  a  man  f7-om  the  Lord."  Some  critics  construe 
these  words  of  Eve  to  mean — By  the  help  or  bless- 
ing of  the  Lord;  but  the  more  direct  and  obvious 
sense  of  the  original  is  this :  "  I  have  gotten  a  man, 
the  Lord  " — as  if  she  assumed  that  this,  her  first-born 
son,  was  really  the  promised  divine  "  seed  of  the  wo- 
man "  who  was  to  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  The  cur- 
rent objection  to  this  construction  is  that  it  is  too  far  in 
advance  of  Eve's  theology : — to  which  however  the  ob- 
vious reply  is — Who  knows  how  far  advanced  Eve's 
theology  may  have  been?  Her  imagination  may  have 
outrun  the  actual  revelation  at  that  point  made.  All 
we  can  say  is  that  these  words  are  recorded  as  indi- 
cating her  thought,  and  that  this  is  tlxe  most  natural 
sense  of  her  words. 

In  the  Lord's  expostulation  with  Cain  (4 :  6,  7) 
we  read:  "If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  ac- 
cepted?" but  better — Would  there  not  be  an  eleva- 
tion— i.  e.  of  countenance,  a  cheerful  looking  up,  instead 
of  that  fallen,  sullen  look  spoken  of  in  the  previous 

verse. "And  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lies  crouching 

at  the  door" — sin  being  personified  and  thought  of  as 
some  animal,  perhaps  the  serpent,  ready  to  allure  him 
on  to  deeper,  more  damning  crime :  "And  its  (not  his) 
desire  is  toward  thee  " — its  Satanic  purpose  is  to  en- 
snare and  ruin  thee  :  "but  thou  shouldst  rule  over  it" — 
in  the  sense  of  mastering  its  temptations,  commanding 
them  down  and  ruling  them  out  from  thine  heart. 

The  speech  or  rather  song  of  Lamech  to  his  two  wives 
(4 :  23,  24)  must  be  assumed  to  have  a  close  connection 
Avith  the  occupation  and  skill  of  Tubal-Cain,  "a  work- 
man in  brass  and  iron."  Consciously  strong  and  boldly 
overbearing  in  view  of  this  new  invention  and  pro- 
duction of  death-weapons,  he  proudly  sings :  "  I  have 
(92) 


Abel's  offering.  93 

slain  (or  could  slay)  a  man  for  wounding  me — a  young 
man — for  any  hurt  inflicted  upon  me ;  and  "  (there  be- 
ing in  this  case  some  real  j^rovocation ;  Cain  had  none) 
"if  Cain  would  be  avenged  sevenfold,  truly  Lamech 
seventy  and  seven."  The  lenity  shown  to  Cain  was 
bringing  forth  its  fruits;  the  invention  of  improved 
death-weapons  was  also  contributing  to  fill  the  eartli 

Avith  bloody  violence. These  little  facts  indicate  the 

state  of  society  which  culminated  in  so  filling  the  earth 
with  violence  that  God  was  compelled  to  wash  out  its 
blood-stains  and  its  degenerate  race  with  the  flood. 

2.  AheUs  offering,  and  the  origin  of  sacrifices. 

Abel  kept  sheep;  Cain  tilled  the  ground.  "In  proc- 
ess of  time  "  (Heb.  "  at  the  end  of  days  ") — the  stated 
time  for  worshiping  God  with  ofterings — Cain  "  brought 
of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  " — an  unbloody  offering :  Abel 
"  brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock  and  of  their  fat." 
The  reference  to  th-eir  "fat"  proves  that  these  animals, 

lambs  of  the  fold,  were  slain  in  sacrifice. The  record 

informs  us  that  God  looked  with  favor  upon  Abel's 
offering,  but  not  upon  Cain's.  It  does  not  concern  us 
to  know  hmv  God  signified  his  approval  of  Abel's  sacri- 
fice, whether  by  fire  from  heaven  consuming  it,  or  oth- 
erwise; but  it  does  concern  us  to  ascertain  if  we  can 
why  he  approved  it. 

We  have  some  rays  of  light,  on  this  point  from  the 
writer  to  the  Hebrews  who  says:  ^^By  faith  Abel  offered 
untp  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,  by  which 
he  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,  God  testify- 
ing of  his  gifts."  Now  the  simplest  idea  of  faith,  the 
one  element  always  present  in  it,  is  halving  to  GocVs  author- 
it]/  loith  implicit  confidence  in  his  word.  But  in  this  case 
bowing  to  God's  authority  implies  that  God  had  given 
some  word  in  reference  to  bloody  sacrifices — the  offering 
of  a  lamb  by  shedding  its  blood  upon  the  altar.  And  if 
God  had  given  any  such  word  of  command,  it  is  cer- 
tainly to  be  presumed  that  he  had  also  given  at  least 
this  general  idea,  that  the  blood  of  the  innocent  lamb 
took,  in  some  sense,  the  place  of  the  blood  of  the  guilty 
offerer,  so  that  the  sacrifice  would  imply  the  confession 
of  guilt,  and  also  faith  in  a  bloody  substitute  of  the 
Ijord's  own  providing. Prosecuting  our  investiga- 
tions we  find  this  broad  fact  of  history  bearing  on  the 


94  FROM   THE    FALL   TO   THE    FLOOD. 

case,  viz.  that  Noah,  Abraham  and  Isaac  built  altars 
wherever  they  were  sojourning  and  offered  bloody  sac- 
rifices thereon.  Further,  God  directed  Noah  to  preserve 
in  the  ark  clean  animals  by  sevens,  but  animals  not 
clean  only  in  pairs — two  of  a  species — a  fact  which  can 
not  be  reasonably  accounted  for  save  with  reference  to 
their  customary  use  in  sacrifice.  We  have  then  before 
us  the  well-established  fact  of  the  early  custom  of  bloody 
animal  sacrifices. 

Hoio  came  this  custom  into  existence? 

It  did  not  originate  with  men — certainly  not  with 
good  men.  Apart  from  divine  suggestion,  they  could 
not  have  supposed  that  the  slaughter  of  an  innocent 
animal  would  be  pleasing  to  God.  The  presumption 
would  be  utterly  against  this.  They  could  not  have 
thought  out  the  divine  idea  of  atonement  for  sin  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  God's  own  incarnate  Son :  the  very  sup- 
position is  absurd,  for  it  supposes  that  men  were  able 
to  sound  the  infinite  depths  of  God's  wisdom  and  of  his 
love,  and  to  grasp  the  relations  and  bearings  of  his  vast 
moral  government  with  a  reach  of  thought,  not  human 
but  divine.  Yet  further ;  it  is  not  supposable  that, 
having  excogitated  and  discovered  the  grand  idea  of 
atonement,  they  could  have  devised  the  plan  of  prefig- 
uring this  atonement  by  the  bloody  sacrifice  of  the  most 

innocent,  harmless  and  lovely  of  the  animal  races. 

And  further,  if  they  could  have  thought  out  this  mira- 
cle of  God's  wisdom  and  love — both  the  divine  idea  of 
atonement,  and  the  expediency  of  illustrating  it  for 
ages  by  a  foreshadowing  system  of  bloody  sacrifices — it 
would  still  have  been  the  height  of  presumption  in 
them  to  have  started  this  system  of  sacrifices  without 
God's  special  and  sanctioning  appointment. 

We  are  therefore  shut  up  to  this  alternative :  Either 
the  whole  system  of  altars  and  bloody  sacrifices,  as  prac- 
ticed by  Abel,  Noah,  Abraham  and  Isaac,  was  an  un- 
meaning farce — a  thing  of  no  significance,  a  mere 
amusement  or  fancy,  meaning  nothing  and  good  for 
nothing;  or,  God  himself  originated  the  system  and  en- 
joined it,  and  these  good  men  Avere  observing  it  in  obe- 
dience to  special  revelation  from  God. — —Here  it  will 
be  readily  seen  that  the  first  side  of  this  alternative  is 
perfectly  precluded  by  the  fact  that  God  approved  their 


MORAL   LESSONS   OF   THIS   AGE.  95 

sacrifices.  God  "had  respect  to  the  offering  of  Abel." 
He  "  smelled  a  sweet  savor  "  in  the  sacrifices  offered  by- 
Noah  (Gen.  8:  20,  21.)  The  other  alternative  there- 
fore, viz.  that  bloody  sacrifices  originated  in  a  direct 
revelation  from  God — is  the  only  supposition  left  us. 
We  must  adopt  it. 

It  can  not  be  necessary  to  draw  out  an  argument  to 
prove  that  in  instituting  this  system  of  bloody  sacri- 
fices God  gave  his  people  some  notion  of  its  significance. 
The  whole  record  shows  that  he  was  on  most  familiar 
terms  with  them  and  therefore  can  not  be  supposed  to 
have  left  a  point  of  so  much  importance  utterly  blank. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  unless  some  light  were 
thrown  by  the  Lord  himself  upon  the  meaning  and  pur- 
pose of  these  bloody  offerings,  the  command  to  make 
them  would  require  some  apology ;  for  apart  from  their 
expiatory  significance,  they  are  most  revolting  to  even 
human  benevolence — most  foreign  to  all  just  notions  of 
what  is  due  treatment  of  innocent  lambs,  bullocks  and 
doves  from  our  hand.  It  should  also  be  considered  that 
their  moral  value  depends  on  their  significance.  All 
these  bloody  sacrifices  must  have  been  practically  value- 
less unless  their  expiatory  significance  was  in  some 
good  degree  understood.  That  God  ordained  them  for 
the  sake  of  their  moral  value,  who  can  for  a  moment 

doubt? The  conclusion,  therefore,  seems  inevitable 

that  God  not  only  enjoined  these  bloody  sacrifices,  but 
gave  his  people  to  understand  in  general  their  sig- 
nificance to  the  extent  of  fulfilling  that  unconscious 
prophecy  of  Abraham  (Gen.  22:  8):  "My  son,  God  will 
provide  for  himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering." 

These  views,  if  just,  are  of  vast  historic  value  as 
showing  hoiv  much  God  taught  his  people  at  that  earliest 
day,  pertaining  to  his  great  thoughts  of  redemption  for 
a  lost  race. 

3.   The  great  moral  lessons  of  (he  antediluvian  age. 

(1.)  It  may  be  regarded  as  God's  experiment  of  a  very 
long  life-probation  for  man.  Of  course  this  experiment 
is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  made  to  satisfy  himself  as  to 
its  wisdom,  but  to  satisfy  created  finite  minds  in  this 
and  in  every  other  world.  In  a  case  where  issues  so 
momentous  were  pending  on  the  results,  it  must  be 
vital  to  the  honor  of  Jehovah  before  all  created  minds 


96  FROM   THE    FALL   TO   THE    FLOOD. 

that  he  should  fix  the  average  period  of  human  proba- 
tion in  this  earthly  life  at  the  best  possible  point.  If 
he  had  begun  with  the  same  average  limit  which  has 
obtained  since  the  days  of  Moses  (three-score  years  and 
ten),  he  must  have  anticipated  the  general  impression 
that  this  is  much  too  short  for  the  decision  of  destinies  so 
vast  as  the  welfare  of  an  immortal  existence.  It  was 
therefore  eminently  wise  that  God  should  begin  (as  we 
see  that  he  did)  with  a  much  longer,  even  a  tenfold 
longer  average  life-period. This  very  long  life,  more- 
over, carried  with  it  an  extraordinary  physical  vigor, 
apparently  a  very  great  exemption  from  sickness, 
frailty,  suffering,  save  as  induced  by  the  violent  and 
murderous  passions  of  man  toward  his  fellows.  The 
discij)line  of  suffering  seems  to  have  been  at  its  min- 
imum for  all  human  history.  The  experiment  of  al- 
most unimpaired  physical  well-being  was  afforded  the 
freest  scope  for  its  manifestation. 

What  was  the  result?  The  words  of  Solomon  ex- 
press it  well :  "  Because  vengeance  against  an  evil  work 
is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons 
of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil"  (Eccl.  8:  11). 
The  mass  of  those  generations  sunk  down  morally  to 
the  lowest  point  possible,  short  of  a  general  and  promis- 
cuous destruction.  "All  flesh  had  corrupted  its  Avay." 
"Every  imagination  of  the  thought  of  man's  heart  was 
only  evil  continually."  "  The  earth  was  filled  with  vi- 
olence." Human  life  had  no  sacredness ;  society,  no  safe- 
guard; murderous  passions,  no  restraint.  The  race  were 
fast  becoming  too  corrupt  to  live.  If  the  Lord  had  not 
swept  them  by  a  flood,  the  earth  would  fain  have  opened 
her  jaws  to   swallow  them  from  the  face  of  the.  sun. 

(2.)  This  social  and  moral  degeneracy  becomes  a  very 
instructive  lesson  for  all  time  upon  the  results  of  the 
non-punishment  of  murder.  It  was  doubtless  wise  for 
God  to  begin  as  he  did  with  Cain ;  but  it  was  not  wise 
to  continue  that  policy  after  such  results  had  been 
brought  out  before  both  this  world  and  the  whole  in- 
tt'lligent  universe.  What  men  socially  related  must 
needs  do  for  their  mutual  protection  in  order  not  merely 
to  make  society  a  blessing  but  to  make  the  existence  of 
men  in  society  a  possibility,  was  precisely  the  problem 
to  be  solved;  and  to  its' solution  this  "first  period  of 
human    life — the     antediluvian     age — was    definitely 


MORAL  LESSONS   OF   THIS   AGE.  97 

adapted.  It  brought  out  the  solution  perfectly.  No 
other  experiment  can  ever  be  necessary.  When  the 
race  started  anew  after  the  flood,  the  Lord  advanced  to 
the  true  doctrine  and  enjoined  on  social  man  the  sol- 
emn duty  of  shielding  human  life  by  taking  the  mur- 
derer's blood.  "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man 
shall  his  blood  be  shed "  ^Gen.  9 :  6).  This  was  one 
step  of  manifest  progress  in  the  revelation  of  God's  will 
as  to  the  responsibility  and  duty  of  men  in  their  social 
and  governmental  relations.  It  was  progress  in  the 
origination  of  society — progress  built  on  the  great  les- 
sons of  human  history. 

(3.)  Here  are  also  lessons  of  faith  and  of  heroic  virtue 
in  the  godly  lives  of  the  small  and  it  would  seem  con- 
stantly diminishing  group  of  pious  men  living  among 
the  multitudes  of  the  ungodly.  Here  was  Enoch,  "  tlie 
seventh  from  Adam,"  who  preached  a  righteous  God 
and  a  coming  judgment  to  a  hardened  generation,  but 
seems  to  have  met  with  only  resistance,  to  the  extent 
apparently  of  relentless  persecution.  The  remark  of 
the  apostle  (Heb.  11  :  5) — "He  was  not  found  because 
God  had  translated  him,"  may  perhaps  imply  that  his 
enemies  sought  him  for  purposes  of  bloody  violence, 
from  which  the  Lord  took  him  away  in  his  chariot  of 

fire  by  translation  to  heaven! Here  too  was  Noah, 

also  "  a  preacher  of  righteousness,"  who  "  walked  with 
God  " — and  was  Avarned  by  -him  of  the  impending  del- 
uge of  waters.  He  warned  his  fellow  men  of  their 
threatened  doom,  but  warned  them  only  in  vain. 
"  They  ate,  they  drank  ;  they  bought,  they  sold ; "  they 
revelled  and  scoffed — till  the   day  that  Noah  entered 

into  the  ark — no  longer ! But  we  speak  now  of  the 

example  of  Noah's  faith  in  God.  He  saw  no  portents 
in  the  sky;  heard  no  muttering  thunders  in  the  distant 
heavens ;  yet  he  held  on  year  after  year  till  the  ark  was 
ready — himself  preaching  and  warning;  fearlessly  and 
heroically  witnessing  by  his  labors  upon  the  ark  to  his 
positive  faith  in  the  forewarnings  of  God.  Thus  his 
faith  rebuked  the  godless  unbelief  of  his  generation,  and 
testifies  to  us  of  the  wisdom  and  blessedness  of  taking 
God  at  his  word  and  of  adjusting  our  life  to  his  com- 
mand, though  in  the  face  of  a  scoffing  world. 

(4.)  Yet  another  point  in  this  cluster  of  great  moral 
lessons    is  indicated  for  us  by  Peter  (2  Pet.  2 :  4-9)  ; 


98  FROM  THE  FALL  TO  THE  FLOOD. 

"  For  if  God  spared  not  the  old  world,  but  saved  Noah, 
the  eighth  person,  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  bring- 
ing in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly : — the 
Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  tempta- 
tion and  to  preserve  the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judg- 
ment to  be  punished."  That  awful  word,  retrihution, 
gathers  into  itself  the  fearful  significance  of  these  stu- 
pendous events.  They  are  God's  foregoing  judgments, 
brought  out  in  this  world  to  foreshadow  the  sorer  visit- 
ations of  that  coming  day  when  God  shall  bring  every 
work  into  judgment  with  every  secret  thing,  good  or 
evil.  God  surely  does  take  note  of  the  sins  of  men,  how 
long  soever  he  may  stay  his  uplifted  haiid  and  delay  to 
smite.  If  wicked  men  were  wise  they  would  believe  God's 
words  of  warning,  and  take  care  not  to  live  over  again 
the  life  of  that  doomed  generation  and  meet  a  final 
judgment  more  awful  even  than  theirs  ! 

(5.)  Let  us  not  fail  to  notice  those  Avonderful  and 
beautiful  ways  of  God  with  his  children,  coming  down 
in  such  condescending  and  most  familiar  communion, 
talking  with  them  apparently  almost  as  man  talks 
with  his  dearest  friend;  and  this  not  in  Paradise  only 
before  the  fall,  but  after  the  fall  scarcely  less ;  and  on- 
ward as  the  narrative  indicates  in  the  case  of  Enoch 
and  of  Noah.  What  more  could  he  have  done  to  reveal 
a  personal  God  to  mortals  ?  Surely  the  God  who  thus 
revealed  himself  in  the  fresh  morning  of  our  race  is  no 
dim  abstraction,  no  impersonal  Nature  or  Essence,  dif- 
fused and  diffusible  throughout  space,  the  ideal  soul  of 
all  matter.  This  eflFort  to  dispose  of  a  God  with  whom 
it  is  man's  privilege  to  walk  in  positive  personal  com- 
munion, but  who  also  takes  cognizance  of  man's  in- 
iquity, and  to  transmute  him  into  an  empty,  forceless 
ideality,  finds  not  the  least  countenance  in  these  earli- 
est manifestations  of  himself  to  our  race.  Note  how  he 
dwells  with  men ;  how  he  walks  with  them  and  lets 
them  walk  with  him  !  What  is  this  but  free  and  lov- 
ing communion?  What  less  can  it  imply  than  just 
what  the  narrative  of  man's  creation  witnesseth,  viz. 
that  God  "made  manin  hisownimage'^ — capable  therefore 
of  real  and  most  intimate  communion  of  spirit  with  his 
Maker?  This  lesson  is  written  all  the  way  through  the  Bi- 
ble. It  stands  out  here  with  beautiful  prominence  in  this 
first  great  chapter  of  God's  revelation  of  himself  to  man. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


THE  FLOOD. 


1.  First,  let  us  note  its  moral  cause — the  reason  why 
God  swept  off  the  living  from  the  face  of  the  earth  by 
a  deluge  of  waters. It  was  essential  to  the  moral  re- 
sults which  God  sought  that  this  reason  should  be 
given  very  definitely.  So  we  find  it  given  (Gen.  6: 
5-13) :  "  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thought 
of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  "The  earth 
was  corrupt  before  God ;  and  the  earth  was  filled  With 
violence."  These  points  are  reiterated  in  most  distinct 
and  emphatic  terms,  showing  that,  outside  of  the  house- 
hold of  Noah,  the  whole  living  race  had  deeply  aposta- 
tized from  God  and  were  boldly  and  even  defiantly  irre- 
ligious. Eliphaz  in  Job  (22 :  15-17)  gives  the  tradition 
current  in  his  time,  thus  :  "  Who  said  unto  God,  '  Depart 
from  us,'  and,  '  What  can  the  Almighty  do  for  them'" — 
i.  e.  for  Noah  and  his  godly  associates?  Despite  the 
words  of  Noah  who  bore  to  them  God's  awful  forewarn- 
ings  and  preached  the  righteousness  of  repentance,  they 
pressed  on  in  their  sins  unmoved  and  reckless — "  till 
mercy  reached  its  bound  and  turned  to  vengeance  there  " ! 
It  was  a  whole  generation  hopelessly  corrupt,  daring 
the  Almighty  to  make  good  his  awful  Avords  of  warn- 
ing !  The  result  is  on  record  that  all  sinners  of  every 
age,  tempted  to  like  hardihood  and  defiance  of  God,  may 
study  it  with  profound  consideration. 

2.  The  anteredent  occasions  of  this  deep  apostasy  from 
God  as  given  in  the  narrative,  next  demand  our  atten- 
tion.    They  are 

(1.)   The  pious  families  intermarry  ivifh  the  godless. 

(2.)  The  Spirit  of  God^  persistently  resisted,  is  withdraivn. 
(1.)  "  The  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that 
they  were  fair,  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  which 
they  chose."  The  "sons  of  God"  were  his  professed 
children  of  the  godly  race  of  Seth,  Enos  and  Enoch. 
The  "daughters  of  men"  were  of  the  Cainites,  cultured 

(99) 


100  THE    FLOOD-. 

probably  in  music  (Gen.  4 :  21);  attractive  in  person, 
fascinating  in  manners — but  alas,  all  corrupt  in  heart 

as  toward  God  ! The  Jews  have  a  tradition  that  these 

"sons  of  God"  were  fallen  angels,  once  first-born  sons 
of  God,  who  by  intermarriage  with  man's  fair  daughters, 
intensified  this  fearful  corruption  of  the  race.  This 
tradition  we  must  reject  for  the  following  as  well  as 
other  reasons  : 

(a.)  Nothing  is  said  here  about  angels.  The  record 
gives  us  no  word  which  legitimately  designates  angels — 
least  of  all,  the  fallen  angels. 

(b.)  According  to  the  Scriptures,  angels  "neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  The  tradition  is 
therefore  not  only  ivithout  Scripture  authority  but  against 
it. 

(c.)  If  this  extreme  demoralization  had  been  caused 
by  the  marriage  connection  of  fallen  angels  with  the 
daughters  of  men,  those  angels  should  certainly  have 
come  in  for  their  share  of  the  visible  retribution.  God 
gave  Satan  his  share  of  the  curse  for  his  agency  in  the 
first  great  sin.  The  same  justice  would  have  made  the 
fallen  angels  visibly  prominent  under  this  curse  of  the 
flood. Either  of  these  reasons  singly  would  be  suffi- 
cient ground  for  rejecting  this  tradition;  much  more 
must  they  suffice,  combined. 

(2.)  The  withdrawal  of  the  divine  Spirit  is  the  second 
assigned  antecedent  of  this  fatal  degeneracy.  In  our 
English  version  we  read — "And  the  Lord  said,  'My 
Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man,  for  that  he  also 
is  flesh;  yet  his  days  shall  be  one  hundred  and  twenty 

years.'" As  to  the  meaning  of  "  My  Spirit,"  we  must 

reject  the  sense — animal  life — that  which  God  breathed 
into  man  to  make  him  "a  living  soul"  (Gen.  2:  7),  as 
being  incongruous  with  the  verb  "strive":  also  the 
sense — rational  soul — that  which  makes  man  a  rational 
being;  and  must  accept  the  sense  so  amply  sustained 
by  Scripture  usage — the  divine  Spirit,  sent  by  Christ 

to  transform  human  hearts. The  word  "strive"  to 

translate  the  Hebrew  verb  -'-  is  not  bad.  We  must  re- 
ject the  construction  of  some  of  the  old  versions,  dwell, 
as  not  in  the  original,  and  as  too  tame :  also  the  turn 
given  it  by  Gesenius — to  be  humiliated,  put  down — • 
as  not  borne  out  well  by  the  original ;  and  say  that  the 


ITS   MORAL    CAUSE.  101 

verb  is  currently  used  of  judicial  transactions— search- 
ing out,  convincing,  convicting;  and  seems  to  have  a 
striking  analogy  in  that  leading  word  given  us  by 
Christ ;  "  When  "he  is  come,  he  shall  reprove  the  world  " — 
enforce  conviction  upon  the  world — as  to  sin  and  right- 
eousness. 

The  next  clause  is  more  difficult  and  perhaps  more 
controverted :  "  For  that  he  also  is  flesh."  Why  is  the 
word  "  also  "  here  ?  And  what  is  the  logic  indicated  by 
''"for  that" f  Can  it  mean  that  God  withdraws  his 
Spirit  because  man  is  human — with  a  body  of  "  flesh  "  ? 
Our  translators  separated  the  main  Hebrew  Avord  into 
three — the  preposition  meaning  m),  the  relative  written 
elliptically,  and  the  particle  meaning  also.  The  con- 
struction of  Fuerst  is  better — "  In  their  wandering,  he 
is  flesh,"  i.  c  their  degeneracy  has  brought  flesh  com- 
pletely into  the  ascendant :  warring  against  the  spirit, 
the  flesh  is  absolute  victor  in  the  fight.  Henceforth 
all  further  conflict  is  hopeless.  Hence  God  may  right- 
eously say — nay  must  in  honor  to  himself  say — ]\Iy 
Spirit  shall  not  plead  my  cause  in  man  forever.  He 
is  utterly  gone  over  to  the  flesh,  and  nothing  remains 
but  that  he  must  perish.  One  hundred  and  twenty 
years  of  merciful  respite  *  for  patient  warning  and  ex- 
haustive trial  must  suffice : — then,  if  no  penitence  ap- 
pear, judgment  must  fall,  and  that  without  remedy ! 

Thus  God  places  on  record  the  moral  causes  and 
antecedents  of  this  fearful  visitation,  that  its  moral  les- 
sons may  go  down  to  distant  ages  for  their  admonition 
to  the  end  of  time. 

The  hour  of  doom  draAvs  nigh.  The  Lord  gave  Noah 
definite  notice  to  enter  his  ark  (7 :  1)  and  allowed  him 
seven  days  time  (7 :  4)  to  gather  in  all  whom  the  ark 
Avas  provided  to  save.  Then  "the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  were  broken  up  and  the  AA'indows  of  heaven 
Avere  opened."  Of  small  avail  for  safety  then  Avas  the 
gigantic  frame  of  the  giants  of  those  days  or  the  defiant 
heart  of  unbelieving  scofi'eis! 

It  is  scarcely  needful  to  speak  of  the  physical  means 

*0r  this  one  Imndred  and  twenty  years  may  be  the  reduced 
standard  duration  of  human  life,  the  thought  being — So  long  a  pro- 
bation, almost  a  thousand  years,  is  too  much  ;  my  Spirit  shall  not 
prolong  his  effort  in  vain  to  this  extent;  I  reduce  the  average  life- 
period  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  years. 


102  THE    FLOOD. 

which  God  employed  to  produce  this  flood.  The  agen- 
cies which  appear  in  the  volcano  and  in  the  earth- 
quake and  which  God  holds  imprisoned  at  no  great 
depth  below  the  earth's  surface,  are  all-sufficient  for 
these  results.  We  may  sujipose  that  they  lifted  the 
bed  of  the  adjacent  seas,  upheaving  their  waters  into 
the  atmosphere  to  descend  in  torrents  of  rain,  and  sink- 
ing for  the  time  the  inhabited  lands — and  the  work  is 
done.  Such  alternate  upheavals  and  depressions  are, 
we  may  say,  chronic  to  the  crust  of  the  earth.  The 
ancient  records  of  geology  bear  this  testimony.  It  was 
not  strange  therefore  but  was  merciful  that  God  should 
allay  human  fears  by  his  promise  to  drown  the  earth  no 
more.  His  bow  in  the  cloud,  seen  when  the  sun  shone 
forth  after  the  shower,  became  by  God's  special  appoint- 
ment the  sign  and  pledge -of  this  covenant. 1  see  no 

good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  rainbow  never  existed 
before.  It  must  have  existed  by  the  laws  of  nature, 
unless  those  laws  were  greatly  changed  at  the  flood — a 
change  which  should  not  be  assumed  without  suf- 
ficient reason.  No  such  reasons  are  apparent.  It  is 
better  therefore  to  construe  the  promise — The  well 
known  bow  in  the  cloud  I  give  and  ordain  to  be  my 
sign  and  pledge  that  the  earth  shall  be  deluged  wath 
water  no  more. Beautiful  symbol,  kindly  and  lov- 
ingly ordained;  and  as  we  look  upon  it,  delighted  with 
both  its  beauty  and  its  significance,  let  it  heighten  our 
joy  that  God  says  of  himself,  "  I  will  look  upon  it  and 
remember  my  covenant." 

Was  this  flood  universal  9 

1.  Was  it  universal  geographically,  overspreading  the 
entire  globe? 

2.  Was  it  universal  as  to  all  living  men,  leaving  abso- 
lutely none  alive  on  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  except 
those  in  the  ark? 

1.  That  the  deluge  was  of  limited  extent  geograph- 
ically, and  not  universal,  may  be  fairly  assumed  on  the 
loUowing  grounds : 

(1.)  The  moral  reasons  for  a  deluge  do  not  seem  to 
require  it  to  be  universal,  since  obviously  that  corrupt 
generation  whose  sins  demanded  such  a  judgment  did 
not  overspread   all    the  continents  and   lands   of  the 


FLOOD   NOT    UNIVERSAL.  103 

globe,  but  appear  to  bave  been  confined  witbin  a  quite 
limited  area  in  Western  Asia. 

(2.)  Wbile  on  tbe  one  band  we  may  not  limit  tbo 
miraculous  power  of  tbe  Almigbty ;  on  tbe  otber  band, 
it  is  not  legitimate  to  assume  an  expenditure  of  mirac- 
ulous power  indefinitely  beyond  wbat  tbe  occasion  de- 
mands.  Tbis  objection   is   designed  to   apply,   not 

specially  to  tbe  supply  of  water  requisite  to  flood  tbe 
wbole  eartb  at  once,  for  tbere  is  water  enougb  in  tbe 
oceans  and  seas  to  submerge  tbe  continents,  provided 
only  tbat  tbe  ocean  beds  be  temporarily  uplifted  and 
tbe  continents  relatively  depressed :  but  it  does  apply 
with  great  force  to  tbe  preservation  of  tbe  living  ani- 
mals and  plants  of  tbe  wbole  world.  Tbe  narrative  as- 
sumes tbat  tbe  deluge  will  destroy  tbe  land  animals 
and  tbe  fowls  of  tbe  air  unless  tbey  are  protected  in  tbe 
ark.  It  also  gives  us  tbe  dimensions  of  tbe  ark,  and 
leaves  us  to  estimate  proximately  bow  many  could  be 
saved  alive  in  it.  Tbe  narrative,  tberefore,  does  not 
autborize  us  to  resort  to  miracle  for  tbe  preservation  of 

tbese  animal  races. Now  it  is  entirely  certain  tbat 

only  an  exceedingly  small  part  of  all  tbe  land  animals, 
insects  and  birds  of  tbe  wbole  world  were  saved  in  tbe 
ark.  Men  versed  in  natural  science  estimate  tbe  living 
species  of  vertebrate  animals  at  21,000;  of  articulates, 
300,000 — numbers  by  far  too  great  to  be  provided  for 

in  Noab's  ark. Yet  again:  To  a  great  extent  tbe 

"fauna"  (as  tbey  are  called) — tbe  animal  species  of  tbe 
several  continents — differ  widely  from  eacb  otber. 
Soutb  America  bas  its  families,  many  of  tbem  unknown 
to  otber  continents;  Australia  bas  its  special  group, 
and  Africa  its  own.  It  is  simply  incredible  tbat  all  or 
even  tbe  mass  of  tbese  animals  came  to  Noab  and  were 
preserved  in  tbe  ark.  If  tbey  bad  been  destroyed  by 
tbe  flood,  tbere  sbould  be  traces  of  tbeir  sudden  annibi- 
lation  in  tbe  drift  of  tbat  flood,  and  geological  researcb 
migbt  trace  tbe  introduction  of  new  races  by  special 
creation  to  repeople  tbose  continents.  No  such  line  of 
proofs  for  a  universal  deluge  is  found.  Tbe  absence  of 
such  traces  of  destruction  and  of  new  creation  makes  it 
far  more  than  probable  tbat  the  flood  was  limited  in 
extent  and  not  universal. 

Still  further  it  is  urged  against  a  universal  deluge-;- 
and  for  aught  that  aj^pcars  conclusively — that  volcanic 


104 


THE    FLOOD. 


cones  exist— of  Etna  in  Sicily  and  of  Auvergne  in 
Southern  France — which,  being  composed  of  loose 
scoriae  and  ashes,  must  have  been  Avashed  away  by 
any  deluge  that  should  reach  them.  The  cones  of 
Etna  are  estimated  to  be  12,000  years  old. 

(3.)  The  apparently  universal  language  of  the  narra- 
tive may  be  readily  explained  as  other  similar  language 
must  be  in  the  Scriptures,  without  assuming  a  range 
of  meaning  beyond  the  writer's  personal  knowledge. 
The  writer  of  this  narrative  (Gen.  chaps.  6-9)  speaks 
as  an  eye-ioitness,  especially  of  the  great  rain ;  of  the  ark 
borne  up  upon  the  waters ;  of  the  surging  back  and 
forth  of  the  billows,  and  of  their  covering  "  the  high 
hills  under  the  whole  heaven,"  i.  e.  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach.  The  same  style  of  universal  language  ap- 
pears frequently  in  the  Scriptures,  yet  subject  to  lim- 
itations from  the  known  nature  of  the  case ;  e.  g.  Deut. 
2:  25:  "  This  day  will  I  begin  to  put  the  fear  of  thee  " 
[Israel]  "upon  the  nations  that  are  under  the  whole 
heaven;"  Acts  2:  5 — "There  were  dwelling  at  Jerusa- 
lem, Jews,  devout  men,  out  of  every  nation  under  heaven.'' 
Mat.  3:5:  "Then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem,  and  all 

Judea,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan." It  is 

in  point  to  notice  also  that  the  word  "  the  earth,''  so  fre- 
quently used  in  this  narrative,  very  often  has  the 
sense — the  land.  It  should  manifestly  have  a  meaning 
as  broad  when  used  of  the  extent  of  the  judgment  as 
when  used  of  the  extent  of  the  sin,  and  not  necessarily 
any  more  broad.  Of  the  sin  it  is  said  repeatedly — "  The 
earth  was  corrupt  before  God ; "  "  the  earth  was  filled 
with  violence."  Obviously  this  same  ^^  earth,"  to  the 
same  geographical  extent  and  not  apparently  any 
thing  more,  was  destroyed  by  the  flood.  It  may  be  no- 
ticed also  that  the  word  "ground"  [Heb.  adamah]  is 
used  (Gen.  7  :  23)  as  a  synonym  for  "  earth  " — "  ever}' 
living  substance  which  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
ground" — but  this  carries  with  it  no  sense  of  universal- 
ity as  to  this  globe. 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  at  this  time 
both  the  righteous  descendants  of  Seth  and  the  wicked 
descendants  of  Cain  were  living  in  the  great  basin  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris — with  great  probability 
not  reaching  out  beyond  the  area  bounded  by  the  In- 
dian Ocean,  the  Persian  Gulf,  the  Caspian,  Black,  Med- 


ITS   TKADITIONS.  105 

iterranean  and  Eed  Seas.  This,  therefore,  we  may  as- 
sume to  have  been  the  area  submerged  by  this  deluge, 
and  we  have  no  occasion  to  look  for  its  traces  beyond 
these  limits. 

2.  Whether  the  deluge  destroyed  all  living  men  from 
the  face  of  the  whole  geographical  earth  except  those 
in  the  ark,  it  is  perhaps  impossible  to  decide  Avith  ab- 
solute certainty.  If  any  were  not  reached,  they  must 
have  been  such  as  had  wandered  early,  far  from  their 
native  home,  suppose  into  China  or  Africa,  where 
neither  the  corruption  which  became  the  moral  cause 
of  the  deluge  nor  the  deluge  itself  reached  them.  The 
question  is  one  of  probabilities  only,  for  we  have  no 
certain  knowledge  on  the  subject  and  can  not  have. 
The  probabilities  are  in  my  view  quite  against  the 
suj^position. 

Traditions  of  a  Great  Deluge. 

All  the  great  nations  of  history  have  traditions  more 
or  less  definite  of  a  vast  deluge  in  the  days  of  their 
fathers.  As  should  be  expected,  these  traditions  com- 
pared with  the  Bible  record  are  variously  modified, 
corrupt  we  might  say,  mixed  with  fable,  magnified  as 
great  stories  are  wont  to  be  in  passing  from  lip  to 
lip  through  many  generations.  In  general  those  are 
most  pure  which  are  found  nearest  the  locality  of  Eden 
and  which  were  earliest  committed  to  writing.  Some 
authors  classify  them  into  the  West  Asiatic,  including 
the  Babylonian,  that  of  the  Sibylline  books,  the  Phryg- 
ian, the  Armenian,  and  the  Syrian,  some  of  which  are 
remarkably  close  to  the  truth.  The  East  Asiatic,  in- 
cluding the  Persian,  the  Chinese,  and  tlie  Indian ;  the 
Grecian,  found  in  Plato,  Pindar,  Apollodorus,  Plutarch, 
Lucian  and  Ovid;  and  those  oi peoples  and  tribes  outside  of 
the  old  world — the  Celts  of  Northern  Europe,  the  Mex- 
icans, the  Peruvians,  the  Indians  of  America  and  the 
tribes  upon  the  Pacific  Islands.  Lange  remarks  that 
the  ethical  idea  of  the  flood  as  a  judgment  upon  men 
for  their  sins  is  every-where  apparent.  The  Chaldean 
traditions,  brought  clown  in  the  writings  of  Berosus 
(wrote  B.  C.  260),  are  singularly  minute  and  quite  in 
harmony  with  the  scriptural  account  in  its  main  out- 
lines, some  of  which  are  as  follows  : 

Giving  the  name  of  Xisuthrus  to  the  last  of  the  prim- 


106  THE    FLOOD. 

itive  kings,  it  sets  forth  that  he  was  warned  of  the 
flood  in  a  dream ;  was  commanded  to  write  down  all  the 
sciences  and  inventions  of  mankind  and  preserve  them; 
to  build  a  ship  and  save  therein  himself  and  his  near 
friends,  and  take  in  also  animals  with  suitable  food. 
After  the  flood  had  somewhat  subsided,  he  let  fly  a 
bird  which  came  back ;  a  second  which  returned  with 
slime  on  its  foot ;  a  third  which  never  returned.  Then 
seeing  land  visible,  he  opened  his  vessel  and  came  forth 
with  his  wife  and  children;  built  an  altar  and  offered 
sacrifice  to  the  gods.  They  found  the  country  to  be 
Armenia.  Portions  of  the  ark  were  long  in  existence, 
sought  for  as  amulets  and  charms. 

The  Chinese  story  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  those 
more  remote  from  the  locality  of  Noah.  As  given  by 
the  Jesuit,  M.  Martinius,  the  Chinese  date  this  great 
flood  B.  C.  4000;  say  that  Fah-he,  the  reputed  author 
of  Chinese  civilization,  escaped  the  flood,  and  together 
with  his  Avife,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  repeo- 
pled  the  renovated  world. 

Dr.  Gutzlaff"  communicated  a  paper  to  the  Royal  Asi- 
atic Society  (as  in  their  Journal  xvi :  79)  in  which  he 
stated  that  he  saw  in  one  of  the  Buddhist  temples  in 
beautiful  stucco  the  scene  where  Kwanyin,  the  God- 
dess of  Mercy,  looks  down  from  heaven  upon  the  lonely 
Noah  in  his  ark  amidst  the  raging  waves  of  the  deluge, 
with  the  dolphins  swimming  around  as  his  last  means 
of  safety  and  the  dove  with  an  olive-branch  in  his 
beak  flying  toward  the  vessel.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  beauty  of  the  execution.* 

Those  which  are  found  among  the  ancient  people  of 
the  Western  Continent — the  Cherokees,  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians — have  special  interest  as  proving  that,  re- 
mote as  these  tribes  were  from  the  locality  of  Noah, 
they  must  have  had  a  common  origin  and  must  have 
received  this  common  tradition  of  the  flood  from  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates. 

*  See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  "  Noah,"  for  numerous  traditions 
of  the  flood. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


FROM  THE  FLOOD  TO  THE  CALL  OF  ABEAHAM. 

1.   The  laiv  against  murder  and  its  death-penalty. 

When  the  waters  of  the  great  deluge  had  subsided 
and  Noah  and  his  family  found  themselves  once  more 
Upon  the  face  of  the  solid  earth — an  unpeopled  soli- 
tude— that  which  we  read  in  Gen.  9,  was  beautifully  in 
place  : — "  And  God  blessed  Noah  and  his  sons."  So  long 
imprisoned  in  the  ark;  so  long  in  the  presence  of  this 
fearful  visitation  of  a  righteous  God  upon  a  hopelessly 
corrupt  generation,  how  naturally  must  their  view  of 
human  life  take  on  a  somber  hue,  and  how  refreshing 
to  be  assured  that  the  Great  God  was  still  their  loving 
Father!  "God  blessed  them  and  said,  'Be  fruitful  and 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,'" — for  God  Avould  have 
it  filled  again  with  living  men.  Moreover,  though  few 
and  feeble,  they  need  not  fear  the  violence  of  the  animal 
creation,  for  "  the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of  you  shall 
be  upon  every  beast  of  the  earth  ;  .  .  .  into  your  hand 
are  they  delivered."  Then  by  special  provision,  appar- 
ently never  made  before,  God  sanctioned  the  use  of  ani- 
mal flesh  for  human  food.  Yet  lest  this  sanction  should 
make  them  dangerously  familiar  with  the  shedding  of 
blood,  and  tend  to  lesson  the  sacredness  of  human  life, 
God  solemnly  forbade  the  use  of  blood  for  food,  and  then 
proceeded  to  ordain  that  human  blood  shed  by  ferocious 
animals  should  be  avenged  Avith  their  life.  Then  fol- 
lows special  legislation  against  murder  by  guilty  human 
hands :  "  Whoso  sheddcth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall 
his  blood  be  shed,  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he 
man." That  this  is  precept  and  not  merely  proph- 
ecy is  so  apparent  that  argument  in  proof  might  seem 
almost  an  insult  to  the  common  understanding  of  man- 
kind. Yet  the  passage  has  been  Avrested  in  this  way 
from  its  obvious  significance.  It  should  be  construed 
in  harmony  Avith  the  scope  of  the  context.  Note  there- 
fore, that  its  close  connection  with  the  use  of  animals 
for  the  food  of  man  and  Avith  the  '^requiring  "  of  human 

(107) 


108  THE    PROPHECY   OF    NOAH. 

blood  shed  by  the  violence  of  beasts  compel  us  to  find 
here  precept  and  not  prediction.  Still  more  does  the 
historic  place  of  this  precept,  standing  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  old  world  and  in  the  presence  of  the  yet  unwasted 
bones  of  thousands  whose  wickedness  had  culminated 
in  such  recklessness  of  human  life  that  "  the  earth  was 
filled  with  violence."  In  the  presence  of  such  gigantic 
i  niquity,  grown  up  under  the  experiment  of  pardoning 
£.nd  not  punishing  the  crime  of  murder  and  giving  un- 
restrained license  to  bloody  passion,  it  was  pertinent  to 
la}^  a  new  and  more  efl:ectiial  foundation  for  maintain- 
ing the  peace  of  society  and  the  sacredness  of  human 
life.  The  solemn  lessons  of  the  past  required,  not  a 
prediction  of  retributive  vengeance  under  the  social  law 
of  self-preservation,  but  a  divine  precept  demanding  it 
and  enforcing  it  with  its  logical  reason — that  "God 
made  man  in  his  own  image."  You  may  take  the  life 
of  the  lower  animals  for  no  higher  cause  than  human 
sustenance — food  for  man's  wants ; — but  let  no  man  put 
forth  his  hand  against  the  blood  of  man,  for  he  bears 

the  very  "image  of  God." To  make  this  new  law  the 

more  solemnly  impressive,  man  must  himself  be  the 
executioner  of  this  divine  behest — "  By  man  shall  his 
blood  he  shed^  Society  itself  must  commit  to  some  of  its 
members  this  solemn  function  and  they  must  take  the 
murderer's  life.  Nothing  less  can  shield  the  life  of  man 
from  bloody  violence;  nothing  less  will  duly  honor 
God's  image  in  man. 

2.   The  prophecy  of  Noah. 

In  Gen.  9  :  25-27  we  have  the  first  of  those  patriarchal 
utterances  of  prophetic  sort,  in  various  strain — blessing 
and  not  blessing — of  which  several  examples  occur  sub- 
sequently, as  in  the  case  of  Jacob  (Gen.  49  :  1-27);  Moses 
(Deut.  33  :  1-29).  The  form  is  thoroughly  that  of  He- 
brew poetry — the  brief  parallelism  of  sentiment  and  lan- 
guage being  the  prominent  feature. The  circumstan- 
ces which  called  out  these  prophetic  words  are  given 
briefly  in  the  narrative.  Noah  having  come  forth  from 
the  ark  soon  commenced  the  culture  of  the  vine  and 
experimented  (unfortunately)  in  the  free  use  of  its 
wine.  While  he  lay  overcome  and  personally  exposed 
in  his  tent,  his  younger  son  Ham,  lost  to  all  sense  of 
filial  duty,  reported  the  sad  spectacle.     Shem  and  Japh- 


BLESSINGS   ON    SHEM    AND   JAPIIETH.  109 

eth,  with  filial  pity  and  Avith  the  most  delicate  modesty, 
covered  his  shame.  When  Noah  awoke  to  conscious- 
ness and  came  to  know  what  his  younger  son  had  done 
unto  him,  he  said,  "  Cursed  be  Canaan ;  a  servant  of 
servants  shall  he  be  to  his  brethren.  Blessed  be  Jeho- 
vah, God  of  Shem,  and  let  Canaan  be  servant  to  them. 
Let  God  enlarge  Japheth,  and  let  him  dwell  in  the  tents 

of  Shem ;  and  let  Canaan  be   servant  to  them." It 

had  been  previously  said  (v.  18),  that  "  Ham  was  the 
father  of  Canaan."  What  part,  if  any,  Canaan  bore  in 
this  transaction,  that  the  curse  apparently  due  to  Ham 
should  fall  so  specially  on  him,  the  narrative  does  not 
say.  The  offense  of  Ham  lay  in  the  line  of  his  rela- 
tion as  a  son.  Perhaps  it  was  for  this  reason  that  his 
punishment  lay  in  the  humiliation  of  his  son.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  the  words  were  prophetic  of  the  future  rela- 
tions of  the  posterity  of  Canaan  to  the  posterity  of  both 
Shem  and  Japheth.  The  devoted  nations  of  Canaan 
were  terribly  exterminated  by  the  Hebrew  people,  sons 
of  Shem;  the  remnant  (e.  g.  the  Gibeonites)  were  made 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water ;  and  in  the  age  of 
Solomon,  were  subjected  to  the  most  severe  labors.  See 
Josh.  9  :  20-27,  and  2  Chron.  2  :  17,  IS  and  1  Chron.  22:  2. 

When  Noah's  prophetic  eye  fell  on  Shem,  the  bless- 
ings that  rose  to  his  view  were  too  rich  and  grand  for 
description.  He  could  only  give  utterance  to  his  grate- 
■ful  emotions  and  thanksgivings  in  the  words — "  Blessed 
be  Jehovah,  God  of  Shem"!  Blessed  be  Jehovah,  the 
God  of  the  covenant  with  his  professed  people,  the  God 
of  all  blessings,  of  ever-enduring  love  and  faithfulness! 
What  will  he  not  do  for  his  chosen  people,  brought  into 

relations  to  himself  so  near  and  so  dear  ! In  this  line 

the  sweep  of  his  .prophetic  eye  took  in  the  Hebrew 
race — Abraham  and  the  patriarchs ;  Moses  and  the  pious 
kings  and  holy  prophets;  and  above  all,  the  Great  Mes- 
siah— to  be  born  of  David's  line  and  to  be  the  incarna- 
tion of  God's  mercy  to  a  lost  world.  No  wonder  his 
soul  was  moved  to  devoutest  adoration — Blessed  be  Je- 
hovah who  reveals  himself  as  the  God  of  Sliem  ! 

Of  Japheth  ho  predicts  enlargement  in  the  sense  of  a 
numerous  offspring — "God  shall  enlarge,"  ^.e.  multiply 
"Japheth,"  with  a  play  on  the  significance  of  his  name 
which  signifies  the  enlarged  one.  God  will  verify  his 
name  and  enlarge  the  enlarged  son  ;  in  Hebrew  phrase, 


110  THE   GENEALOGY   OF    NATIONS. 

will   Japhctize  Japheth. In  the  last   clause   of  this 

verse,  the  original  leaves  us  in  doubt  whether  the  sub- 
ject of  the  verb  is  God  or  Japheth.  Grammatically  it 
might  be  either — God  shall  dwell,  or  Japheth  shall 
dwell,  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  In  favor  of  making  Japh- 
eth the  subject  are  these  considerations: — (a.)  The 
verse  preceding  gives  the  prophetic  destiny  of  Shem ; 
this,  of  Japheth. (b.)  The  expression  is  not  alto- 
gether apposite  when  applied  to  God,  for  although  God 
dwelt  in  the  Hebrew  temple  and  dwells  by  his  Spirit 
in  the  bodies  of  his  people,  yet  he  is  not  elsewhere  said 
to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  his  people.  The  phrase  leads  the 
mind  to  such  dwelling  as  may  be  said  of  men  but  is  not 
said  of  God. Applied  to  Japheth  it  had  a  most  appo- 
site and  beautiful  fulfillment  Avhen  the  Gentile  races  of 
Japheth  came  in  as  proselytes  to  the  Hebrew  communion, 
but  far  more  when  in  the  Christian  age,  the  Jews  were 
broken  off  from  the  old  stock  that  the  Gentiles  might 
be  grafted  in,  and  they  were ;  and  may  be  almost  said 
to  have  taken  possession  of  the  deserted  tents  of  Shem 
as  their  own  through  all  the  Christian  centuries  to  this 
hour.  All  Protestant  Christendom  is  this  day  of  Japh- 
eth's  line,  fully  at  home  in  the  tents  of  Shem. 

A  very  extraordinary  case  of  the  wresting  of  Scripture 
to  make  it  justify  crime — so  great  a  crime  as  the 
enslaving  of  men — is  the  attempt  to  force  from  this 
prophecy  concerning  Canaan  a  vindication  of  the 
enslaving  of  Africans  by  Americans.  The  wresting  ap- 
pears in  these  two  broad  facts: — (a.)  That  the  Africans 
were  not  Canaanites,  and  therefore  the  prophecy  said 
nothing  about  the  negro  race.  Admitting  for  argu- 
ment's sake  that  it  justified  the  enslaving  of  Canaanites, 
it  did  not  in  the  least  justify  the  enslaving  of  African 

negroes. (b.)  If  the  passage  had  named  the  African 

negro  instead  of  the  Canaanite,  even  then  a  prediction 
of  what  slmll  he  might  fall  very  far  short  of  being  a  com- 
mand as  to  what  man  ought  to  do.  Proi3hetic  predictions 
of  war  form  not  the  least  justification  of  war — fall  ut- 
terly short  of  a  divine  command  enjoining  man's  duty. 
Predictions  of  the  Savior's  death  could  never  justify  his 
murderers. 

3.   Tlie  genealngy  of  the  great  historic  nations. 

In  Gen.  10  the  Bible  for  once  departs  from  its  usual 


THE    GENEALOGY    OF    NATIONS.  Ill 

method  .and  gives  a  chapter  of  «?um\9a^  history — the  only- 
one.  Elsewhere  it  traces  the  history  of  the  one  nation 
which  had  "  the  oracles  of  God,"  and  in  later  ages,  of  the 
Christian  church,  touching  the  nations  of  the  outside 
world  only  as  they  come  into  relations  to  the  seed  of 
Abraham  or  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  But  here  we  see 
the  sons  of  Noah  branching  out  to  people  the  countries 
of  the  great  Eastern  Continent  and  to  found  the  old  his- 
toric nations  of  the  earth. Japheth  whom  Prophecy 

was  to  ^^  enlarge  ^^  (Gen.  9  :  27)  furnished  the  tribes  from 
which  grew  the  great  nations  of  Northern  and  Eastern 
Asia  and  for  the  whole  of  Europe.  At  first  they  occu- 
pied the  maritime  regions  bordering  on  the  Caspian, 
Black  and  Mediterranean  Seas,  spoken  of  here  as  "  the 
isles  of  the  Gentiles  " — conforming  to  the  Hebrew  usage 

which  called  all  maritime  countries  "  isles." Next 

Ave  have  the  sons  of  Ham,  among  whom  were  Nimrod, 
the  builder  of  Babel ;  Mizraim  with  his  seven  sons  who 
himself  gave  name  to  Eg3'pt ;  Canaan  whose  posterity 
long  held  Palestine,  and  several  names  which  appear 
either  in  the  cities  or  the  tribes  of  the  valley  of  the 

Euphrates    and    of   Arabia. Shem    seems    to    have 

shared  with  Ham  the  possession  of  the  great  fertile 
basin  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris — the  cradle  of 
the  race — together  with  portions  of  Arabia  and  in  gen- 
eral of  South-western  Asia. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  interest  to  know  that  this  re- 
markable record  of  the  birth  of  the  great  nations  of  an- 
tiquity is  perfectly  sustained  by  the  universal  history 
of  all  subsequent  ages.  Whether  Chaldean  or  Pheni- 
cian,  Egyptian  or  Arabian,  Greek  or  Roman,  Mongol  or 
Tartar,  Indo-Germanic,  Celtic,  Belgic  or  Briton — all 
find  the  germ  of  their  nationality  in  this  wonderful 
chapter,  and  all  concur  to  swell  and  substantiate  the 
proof  that  the  human  race  si:)rang  from  Noah  and  that 
we  have  no  occasion  to  look  for  pre-Adamic  men  or  for. 
tribes  that  escaped  the  flood  and  have  no  pedigree 
among  the  sons  of  Noali.  While  it  was  never  the  pur- 
pose of  divine  revelation  to  give  to  any  great  extent 
the  universal  history  of  the  race,  it  is  proper  to  note 
tliat  wliat  it  does  give  boars  the  divine  stamp  of  truth. 
All  historic  science  does  it  homage.  All  the  ligbt  tliat 
comes  up  from  the  comparative  study  of  the  languages 
of  tlie  race  helps  us  still  to  follow  the  track  of  the  emi- 
6 


112  BABEL. 

grating  tribes  as  they  diverged  from  the  ancient  home 
of  Noah's  family.  The  Science  of  Ethnography  begins 
with  this  chapter  of  insj)iration,  Gen.  10. 

4.  Babel  and  the  confusion  of  tongues. 

Gen.  11:  1-9  records  a  very  remarkable  eyent,  of  far 
reaching  consequences  toward  the  geographical  diffu- 
sion of  the  race.  Up  to  this  point  there  was  but  one 
language — as  the  record  has  it — "o?2e  lip  and  one  set  of 
ivorcls,^'  "lip"  being  (perhaps)  used  for  the  mode  of 
speaking,  including  pronunciation  and  possibly  in- 
flection; while  words  are  the  matter  of  language,  the 
roots  or  ground-forms.  The  fact  that  the  latter  have 
been  far  less  variable  than  the  former,  appearing  to 
some  extent  in  all  subsequent  ages  throughout  all  the 
diversities  of  human  tongues,  favors  this  distinction. 

Migrating  from  the  Armenian  hill  country  where  the 
ark  rested,  Noah's  posterity  reached  the  fertile  plain  of 
Shinar,  halted  there,  and  set  themselves  to  the  build- 
ing of  a  magnificent  and  loft}^  tower.  There  being  no 
stone  at  hand,  they  prepared  brick,  not  sun-dried  after 
the  common  Oriental  method,  but  thoroughly  burned 
for  greater  durability.  As  both  consequence  and  proof 
of  this  durability,  the  supposed  ruins  of  this  great 
tower,  known  as  "  Birs  Nimrood"  [tower  of  Nimrod]  are 
still  extant  within  the  area  of  ancient  Babylon,  si- 
lently witnessing  alike  to  the  labors  of  those  fathers  of 
the  nations  before  their  dispersion,  and  to  the  truthful- 
ness of  this  sacred  record. 

This  tower  was  not  built  for  safety  in  case  of  another 
flood  (as  some  have  supposed)  for,  with  such  an  object, 
a  high  mountain  and  not  a  plain  would  have  been 
chosen  for  the  site ;  it  could  at  best  have  saved  but  few ; 
and  more  than  all,  the  record  gives  a  very  different 
view  of  the  motive.  This  motive  was  consolidation — the 
aggregation  of  the  masses  into  one  vast  nationality  or 
kingdom — a  thought  due  to  the  ambition  of  some  con- 
trolling minds  aspiring  to  power,  distinction,  fame. 
Foreseeing  the  tendency  to  dispersion  they  sought  to 
forestall  it,  to  find  their  own  glory  in  having  a  multi- 
tude under  their  sway  and  in  building  monuments 
that  could  not  perish.  For  wise  reasons  God  blasted 
this  scheme.  Precisely  what  divine  influence  was  in- 
terposed   to  confound   the  language   of  these  men,    J 


BABEL.  113 

doubt  if  it  is  possible  for  us  to  know  certainly.  It  is 
supposable  that  the  many  became  restive  under  the 
domination  of  the  few  and  the  severe  labor  of  this  en- 
terprise, so  that  diverse  counsels  and  dissolving  social 
bonds  had  some  influence  in  blocking  the  progress  of 
the  work.  Misunderstandings  sprung  up  and  found 
expression  in  diversities  of  tongue.  What  could  be 
more  natural  when  harmony  gave  place  to  discord? 
So  this  huge   tower-building  was    arrested   and   men 

scattered  abroad   as  they  would. The  new  tongues 

which  took  their  rise  here  had  ample  opportunity  to 
diverge  more  and  more  widely  in  subsequent  ages. 
The  immense  variety  in  language  which  the  history  of 
the  Avorld  discloses  has  been  a  growth — the  product  of 
subtle  causes,  of  segregation  and  non-intercourse  in 
part,  and  in  part  also  no  doubt  of  diverse  mental  traits 
and  various  influences  of  culture. 

What  the  original  language  was,  common  to  the  race 
up  to  this  point,  has  been  much  debated  by  learned 
men  without  arriving  at  uniform  and  satisfactory  re- 
sults. Whether  it  was,  as  some  suppose,  the  veritable 
Hebrew  tongue ;  or  as  others  think,  the  Aramaic,  i.  e. 
the  Chaldee ;  or  whether  it  is  utterly  lost — these  are 
the  alternatives;  but  for  the  choice  between  them  we 
can  have  no  very  positive  data.  Those  descendants  of 
Noah  who  best  preserved  the  religious  faith  of  the 
fathers  would  stand  most  aloof  from  the  scenes  of  Babel, 
and  be  naturally  least  affected  by  its  many-tongued  con- 
troversies and  its  resulting  confusion  of  speech.  That 
they  escaped  these  influences  altogether  is  perhaps  too 

much    to    assume. That    the    Aramaic    (Chaldee) 

tongue,  closely  allied  to  the  Hebrew,  held  its  place  for 
ages  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  strongly  favors  its 
claim  to  be,  if  not  the  very  tongue  of  Noah,  at  least  of 

the  same  family. These  points  suggest  probabiJitics 

but  fall  short  of  certainty. 


CHAPTER    X. 


ABRAHAM. 


Abraham  is  one  of  the  great  men  in  the  world's  re- 
ligious history.  Why  he  is  so  can  not  be  well  under- 
stood and  appreciated  without  at  least  a  brief  view  of 
the  state  of  the  world  religiously  considered  at  the 
date  of  his  call,  and  the  demand  thence  resulting  for 
the  new  religious  instruinentalities  of  which  Abraham 
was  in  a  sort  "  the  head-center." 

In  the  age  before  the  flood  religion  had  never  really 
flourished.  We  read  of  a  time  when  "  men  began  to 
call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  and  something  approx- 
imating toward  system  and  concentration  appears  to 
have  been  introduced.  But  the  record  is  silent  as  to 
any  marked  result  except  so  far  as  it  may  ajjpear  in  the 
piety  of  individual  men,  e.  g.  Enoch  and  Noah.  Ap- 
parently the  religious  element  failed  even  to  hold  its 
own  against  the  on-rushing  tides  of  worldliness.  Even 
the  sons  of  godly  ftithers  formed  unhallowed  marriage 
connections,  and  consequently  were  borne  rapidly  down 
the  broad  current  of  degeneracy  and  moral  corruption 
till  only  one  family  remained  to  represent  the  piety  of 
all  that  generation.     There  was  a  fatal  lack  of  moral 

forces. The   flood   Avas  a  vigorous  moral   lesson   in 

itself;  and  besides  this,  the  race  started  afresh  from  the 
seed  of  this  one  pious  family.  Ten  generations  bring 
us  to  Abraham  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  near  the  old 
cradle  of  the  race.  The  history  of  religion  during  this 
period  from  Noah  to  Abraham  is  exceedingly  meager. 
Gathering  up  the  few  fragmentary  notices  which 
emerge  from  the  general  darkness  in  the  age  of  Abra- 
ham, we  find  that  his  father's  family  in  ancient  Ur 
"  served  other  gods "  (Josh.  24 :  2) ;  that  Abraham, 
journeying  toward  the  south  country  of  Palestine,  so- 
journed awhile  in  Gerar  and  was  there  drawn  into 
grave  temptation  by  the  ajoparent  godlessness  of  the 
people,  since  he  apologizes  on  this  wise  for  representing 
Sarah  to  be  his  sister  and  not  his  wife :  "  Because  I 

(IM) 


ABRAHAM  — niS   TIMES.  .  115 

thought,  Surely  the  fear  of  God  is  not  in  this  place  ;  and 
they  will  slay  me  for  my  wife's  sake"  (Gen.  20:  10, 
11).  The  same  temptation  befell  him  previously  in 
Egypt  (Gen.  12 :  10-20) — probably  indicating  the  same 
inward  thought  based  on  the  same  apparent  public 
morality.  Then  we  have  the  horrible  wickedness  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  where  not  ten  righteous  men 
could  be  found.  And  sad  to  say,  we  see  a  very  low 
tone  of  religious  and  moral  life  in  the  family  even  of 
Lot,  who  as  the  nephew  and  special  associate  of  Abra- 
ham should  represent  the  better  elements  of  society. 

Akin  to  these  sj^ccial  facts  is  the  general  one  that  the 
personal  history  of  Abraham  through  a  full  century  of 
somewhat  extensis^e  travels  and  various  experience 
brings  him  into  contact  with  God-fearing  men  in  only 
the  single  case  of  Melchizedek.  Apart  from  this  one 
brief  but  wonderful  interview  (Gen.  14  :  18-20)  the  re- 
corded history  of  Abraham  gives  the  impression  of  a 
godly  man  working  his  way  for  the  most  part  alone, 
amid  godless  people  on  every  hand — alone  save  as  the 
Lord  testifies  of  him — "I  know  him  that  he  will  com- 
mand his  children  and  his  household  after  him-  and 
they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to  do  justice  and 

judgment"  (Gen.  18:  19). The  case  of  Melchizedek, 

"a  priest  of  the  Most  High  God"  and  also  "king  of  Sa- 
lem"— a  man  so  venerable  in  piety,  in  personal  pres- 
ence apparently,  in  power  and  in  years,  that  even 
Abraham  received  his  blessing  and  "gave  him  tithes 
of  all " — this  is  the  one  sole  bright  spot  on  the  other- 
wise dark  religious  life  of  the  world  as  known  through 
the  history  of  Abraham.  We  marvel  that  Abraham,  so 
far  as  appears,  never  met  Melchizedek  before  and 
never  saw  him  again.  It  seems  strange  that  two  such 
men,  so  kindred  in  character  and  spirit,  each  almost 
alone  breasting  the  strong  currents  of  prevailing  wick- 
edness, should  not  have  formed  at  least  an  infant 
Christian  Association  to  stand  by  each  other  and  bring 
their  joint  light  to  a  common  focus  in  the  midst  of  the 
world's  deep  and  far  spreading  moral  darkness.  But 
God  had  a  certain  great  plan  to  bring  out  with  Abra- 
ham and  his  own  way  of  doing  it.  It  is  plain  there 
was  need  of  this  new  plan.  The  cause  of  piety  and 
truth  was  in  peril  and  called  for  some  "  new  depart- 
ure " — some  yet  untried  method  and  power.     The  world 


116  ABRAHAM. 

was  waiting  for  some  Abraham — i.  e.  for  just  the  system 
of  which  the  great  and  godly  Abraham  was  the  prom- 
inent figure  and  the  historic  rej^resentative. 

The  patent  points  in  this  new  system,  put  in  brief- 
est words,  Avere — Abraham  the  head  of  a  great  family; 
the  founder  of  a  great  nation ;  the  representative  of 
the  family  covenant  and  its  first  and  illustrious  exem- 
plar; the  progenitor  of  the  Great,  long-promised  Mes- 
siah ;  and  coupled  with  his  lineal  posterity,  the  reposi- 
tories of  God's  truth  and  promises — his  offspring,  the 
people  with  whom  God  dwelt  and  was  publicly  wor- 
shiped for  ages  in  the  presence  of  the  idolatrous 
nations  of  the  earth ;  over  whom  God  became  their 
visible  earthly  Sovereign,  their  recognized  King  and 
God. Thus  the  Lord  laid  the  foundation  for  pro- 
gressive manifestations  of  himself  and  for  a  growing 
development  of  religious  truth  and  of  its  legitimate 
forces  from  age  to  age  till  the  Messiah  should  appear. 

Plainly  we  may  recognize  among  the  divine  jDurposes 
in  this  new  system, 

1.  In  general — to  conserve,  concentrate,  augment  and 
perpetuate  the  religious  and  moral  forces  of  revealed 
truth. 

2.  In  particular  : 

(1.)  To  utilize  all  the  best  elements  of  the  famil}^  re- 
lation, turning  to  fullest  account  parental  care  and 
affection  and  the  facilities  furnished  by  nature  to  par- 
ents  for  the  training  and  culture  of  their  offspring. 
The  germinal  idea  of  this  great  familj''  covenant  lies  in 
the  promise,  so  often  reiterated — "I  will  be  a  God  to 
thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee  "  (Gen.  17 :  7,  10,  19). 
A  marvellous  wealth  of  significance  lies  in  these  brief 
words;  for  what  can  be  more  rich  and  all-embracing 
than  this — "I  will  be  a  God  to  thee" — thy  God;  all 
that  a  God  can  become  to  man  made  in  his  image;  his 
loving  Friend,  his  "  Shield  and  exceeding  great  re- 
ward"; his  hope  and  joy  and  trust;  and  to  crown  all, 
his  glorious  salvation  !  Surely  this  cup  of  blessings  is 
rich  and  full  enough  to  meet  the  largest  wants  of  any 
individual  human  heart.  But  when  man  becomes  a 
father — when  woman  becomes  a  mother— a  new  love  is 
born  in  the  soul  and  new  wants  are  thence  begotten,  for 


THE    FAMILY   COVENANT.  117 

the  parental  heart  instinctively  cries  out  as  the  heart 
of  Abraham  did — "0  that  Ishmael  might  live  before 
thee  "  !  Even  so — resjionds  the  great  parental  heart  of 
God — I  know  the  heart  of  a  parent;  therefore  I  said 
"  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee  "/  not 
to  thee  alone  but  to  thee,  and  also,  not  less,  to  thy  be- 
loved ofFsi^ring  besides. 

The  one  comprehensive  condition  for  the  fulfillment  of 
this  great  promise  is  briefly  indicated  in  the  case  of 
Abraham,  of  whom  God  said — "  I  know  him  that  he 
will  command  his  children  and  his  household  after  him, 
and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to  do  justice 
and  judgment;  that  the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham 
tliat  winch  he  hath  spoken  of  him  "  (Gen.  18 :  19).  The 
Lord  knew  that  Abraham  would  fulfill  the  conditions 
so  conscientiously  and  well  that  he  could  fulfill  his 
promise.  The  conditions  are  thus  incidentally  brought 
out — viz.  jmrental  fidelity  and  authority ;  the  early 
culture  and  training  of  his  household ;  consecration, 
the  prayer  and  the  faith  which  are  legitimately  begot- 
ten of  this  covenant  and  naturally  correlated  to  it ; — 
these  are  obviously  the  fitting  conditions  upon  Avhicli 
the  fulfillment  of  this  covenant  on  God's  part  must  de- 
pend.  But,  0,  the  Avealth  of  blessings  garnered  up 

Avithin  its  bosom  for  those  who  walk  in  the  steps  of 
Abraham  with  like  precious  faith  and  like  godly  nur- 
ture !  liow  wonderfally  does  piety  become  self-perpet- 
uating in  the  family  line  from  generation  to  generation 
of  those  who  take  this  covenant  to  their  inmost  heart 
and  find  God  in  it  ever  faithful  and  ever  true  and  ever- 
more "  mighty  to  save  "  as  he  hath  said ! 

Here,  strange  to  say,  some  good  men  would  thrust  in 
a  peremptory  limitation,  asserting  that  this  famil}'' 
covenant  is  Abrahamic  and  Jewish  only ;  good  for  thei:n, 
but  not  good  for  the  Christian  age;  good  in  the  national 

but  not  in  the  family  sense  and  application  thereof 

But  what  is  the  logic  of  such  a  limitation  ?  Was  the 
love  of  parent  for  offspring  lost  out  of  the  human  heart 
at  the  coming  of  Christ  ?  Or  did  the  Lord  forget  at  that 
point  how  deeply  he  had  implanted  this  love  in  human 
bosoms  ?  Or  didlie  think  that  piety,  under  the  improved 
auspices  of  the  gospel  age,  could  thrive  Avithout  the 
help  of  this  family  covenant?     Or  did  he  reason  thus — • 


118  ABRAHAM. 

that  the  gospel  age  having  the  advantage  of  the  Jewish 
in  so  many  points,  could  afford  to  forego  this  family 
promisf!,  and  yet  not  on  the  whole  fall  below  the  Abra- 

hamic  dispensation? Or  in  another  point  of  view, 

looking  at  the  evidence  rather  historically  than  logic- 
ally, it  is  claimed,  as  I  understand  the  argument,  that 
Christ  did  not  renew  the  promise — "  A  God  to  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee  " ;  and  therefore  it  did  not  pass 

oyer  into  the  gospel  age. To  which  I  reply ;  The 

real  question  is — not,  Did  Christ  renew?  but,  Did  he 
annul?  Did  he  say — I  have  come  to  make  void  the  law, 
not  to  fulfdl  ?  Did  he  say — That  family  covenant  which 
the  patriarchs  loved  so  dearly,  in  the  faith  of  which 
they  trained  their  sons  and  daughters  into  the  love  and 
service  of  their  fathers'  God,  has  well  done  its  Avork 
and  can  stand  no  longer  ?  Did  he  labor  to  reconcile  the 
parental  heart  of  his  Jewish  disciples — loving  their 
dear  little  ones  so  tenderly— to  this  sudden  withdrawal 
of  divine  promise — to  this  sore  bereavement  of  hope 
and  slaughter  of  faith  ?  Was  this  what  he  meant  when 
he  said;  "  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me  and 
forbid  them  not ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven"? 
Or  was  this  the  meaning  of  Peter  when  in  the  first 
Pentecostal  sermon  he  proclaimed — "The  promise  (of 
the  Holy  Ghost)  is  to  you  and  to  your  children'^  (Ac.  2: 
39)  ?  Or  could  this  have  been  the  purpose  of  Paul  when 
he  testified;  "  If  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's 
seed  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise  "  (Gal.  3:  29)  ? 

-The  proof  that  the  gospel  age  ruled  out  the  great 

family  covenant  is  by  no  means  apparent. It  should 

be  considered  that  the  covenant  is  one  thing ;  circum- 
cision another.  The  covenant  does  not  of  necessity  die 
because  circumcision  is  discontinued.  The  covenant 
existed  before  circumcision  and  could  be  operative 
without  it ;  indeed  could  live  without  any  visible  sign 
or  seal,  if  so  the  Lord  pleased. Nor  does  the  per- 
petuity of  this  covenant  turn  on  the  proof  that  baptism 
takes  in  all  respects  the  place  of  circumcision.  Whether 
ii  does  fill  the  same  place  or  does  not,  the  covenant 
standeth  sure.  There  is  value  in  an  external  rite  or 
seal — else  God  had  never  enjoined  it.  But  it  falls  ex- 
ceedingly far  short  of  being  the  thing  of  chief  value. 

Into  the  argument  respecting  the  change  from  the 
old  seal  to  a  new  one,  it  is  not  in  place  here  to  enter. 


HIS   CHARACTER.  119 

This  class  of  moral  sentiments  and  social  affections 
looks  forivard  in  the  line  of  human  generations  from 
parent  to  offspring.  Another  class  of  no  small  value 
looks  hack  reverently,  not  to  say  proudly,  to  honored  an- 
cestors. Here  also  Abraham's  name  became  a  positive 
power  upon  his  pos'terity — not  indeed  of  the  very  high- 
est efficiency — not  altogether  proof  against  being  cor- 
rupted to  the  pampering  of  national  pride  and  even  of 
personal  self-righteousness,  for  bad  men  might  learn  to 
say,  "  We  have  Abraham  for  our  father."  Yet  still  it 
can  not  be  questioned  that  for  long  ages  the  name  and 
history  of  Abraham  bore  the  precious  savor  of  his  faith 
and  of  his  stauiich  fidelity  as  the  servant  of  the  living 
God.  It  was  the  prestige  of  a  name  both  great  and 
good,  and  served -to  perpetuate  his  piety  among  millions 
of  his  oiispring.  In  this  direction  all  those  qualities  in 
Abraham  which  made  him  truly  great  as  well  as  emi- 
nently good  become  elements  in  this  new  scheme  for 
augmenting   the   spiritual    and  moral  forces  of  God's 

kingdom  among  men. It  can  not  be  amiss,  therefore, 

to  linger  here  a  moment  and  study  this  wonderful  man. 
Verily  the  Lord  found  the  right  man  for  his  purposes 
in  Abram,  then  living  in  "Ur  of  the  Chaldees."  He 
called  him  to  leave  kindred  (save  the  few  who  joined 
him  in  this  migration)  ;  to  leave  also  all  there  was  to 
him  in  country — the  land  of  his  fathers'  sepulchers; 
and  travel  several  hundred  miles  to  a  strange  unknown 
land.  Abram  heard  and  recognized  God's  voice ;  he 
bowed  to  his  authority  and  went.  This  first  recorded 
illustration  of  his  faith  in  God  and  obedience  made  its 
impression  upon  future  ages — as  we  may  see  in  the  words 
of  Joshua  (2-1 :  2,  3) ;  of  Nehemiah  (9  :  7,  8) ;  of  Stephen 
(Acts  7:  2-5) ;  and  of  the  writer  -to  the  Hebrews  (11  : 
8-10) — which  last  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  all. 
"  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called  to  go  out  into 
a  place  which  he  should  after  receive  for  an  inheritance, 
obej^ed;  and  he  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he 
went." 

Not  a  little  might  be  said  of  many  of  the  lesser  yet 
really  noble  qualities  of  Abraham's  character — how 
magnanimous  he  appears  in  his  bearing  toward  Lot 
(Gen.  13 :  5-9) ;  how  dignified  before  the  sons  of  Heth 
(Gen.  23:  3-16);  how  hospitable  in  entertaining  three 
strangers  who  came  up  as  he  sat  in  his  tent  door  in  the 


120  ABRAHAM. 

beat  of  the  day  (Gen.  18:  1-16)  when  he  "entertained 
angels  unawares"  (Heb.  13:  2);  how  humble,  reverent 
yet  earnest  in  his  intercession  for  Sodom  (Gen.  18 :  23- 
33) ;  how  fearless,  daring  and  wonderfully  efficient  in 
the  rescue  of  Lot  from  the  plundering  hordes  of  the 
East  (Gen.  14  :  13-24)  ;  how  unselfish  in  refusing  to 
participate  in  the  recovered  booty : — but  all  these  qual- 
ities fade  like  stars  before  the  sun  when  seen  in  the 
presence  of  his  wonderful  faith  and  unflinching  obedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  the  Lord  his  God. 

lie  most  signal  manifestations  of  his  faith  and  obe- 
'Sience  cluster  about  three  several  points  in  his  history; 
viz.  his  call  to  go  forth  from  his  ancestral  home  and 
'  :!ountry  ;  his  waiting  twenty-five  years  for  the  birth  of 
his  one  son  of  promise ;  and  the  command  to  offer  this 
only  son  in  sacrifice. 

That  first  call  revealed  the  man.  It  was  but  to  hear 
God's  voice  ;  and  forthwith  he  "  conferred  not  with  flesh 
and  blood."  He  seems  not  to  have  paused  a  moment 
to  question  the  Lord  about  the  conditions,  or  to  consider 
the  hardships;  and  he  never  "  looked  back." 

Next  that  promise  of  a  son,  standing  so  long  unful- 
filled ;  year  by  year  the  human  probabilities  fading, 
dying  out,  till  at  length  they  are  utterly  dead,  and 
nothing  remained  save  the  naked  promise  !  This  was 
indeed  training  Abraham's  faith  to  ivait.  Inasmuch  as 
God's  chosen  plan  of  introducing  the  Messiah  involved 
long  ages  of  waiting  and  trusting  and  living  on  simple 
promise,  this  was  by  no  means  a  profitless  or  uncalled 
for  illustration  of  the  nature,  the  value,  and  the  power 
of  faith  as  in  man  toward  God. 

High  above  either  of  these  cases,  in  point  of  the 
fierceness  of  the  trial  and  the  wonderful  spirit  of  calm 
and  steadfast  faith  and  endurance,  stands  the  case  of 
God's  command  and  his  consent  to  sacrifice  his  son  Isaac 
(Gen.  22).  The  record  puts  this  case  in  the  foreground 
as  to  trial :  "  God  did  tempt  Abraham  " — not  in  the 
sinful  sense — tempting  to  make  him  sin  ;  but  in  a  sense 
appropriate  to  God — subject  him  to  a  terribly  searching 
trial.  First,  God  called  him  by  name,  "  Abraham  " ! 
Then  said — "  Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son  " — that 
son  of  promise  in  whom  all  thy  hopes  and  all  thy  heart's 
affections  have  been  so  long  concentrated — tliat  son 
*'  whom  thou  lovest  " — take  him  and  go,  far  away  three 


OFFERING   ISAAC.  121 

days'  journey  to  a  mountain  Avhich  I  will  point  out,  and 
there  "  offer  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering  "  / 

Was  Abraham  shocked?  Did  he  stagger  under  this 
stunning  blow?  Did  he  pause  to  debate  the  matter 
with  God?  Did  he  beg  that  the  awful  agony  might  be 
at  least  delayed  till  he  could  collect  himself  and  pre- 
pare for  a  trial  so  unexpected,  so  sadden,  so  terrible  to 
bear?  The  record  gives  no  hint  of  any  thing  of  the 
sort.  Abraham  had  heard  God's  voice  many  times  be- 
fore and  could  not  have  had  the  first  doubt  as  to  its 
identity.  If  the  least  doubt  had  crossed  his  mind  ho 
surely  Avould  have  said — "Lord,  this  seems  so  unlike 
Thee:  Is  it  not  Satan,  thine  enemy?  I  can  not  move 
one  step  until  I  know  of  a  certainty  that  this  is  thine 
own  voice." But  there  was  no  relief  in  this  di- 
rection. Yet  we  almost  instinctively  ask — Did  not 
Abraham  expostulate  ?  Did  he  not  say — 0  my  Lord, 
this  Isaac  is  the  son  of  thine  own  promise,  my  only 
hope  for  that  great  and  long  promised  jDosterity;  and 
what  wilt  thou  do  for  thy  truth?  Besides,  the  deed  is  so 
shocking,  so  revolting  to  a  father's  heart !  Moreover, 
hast  thou  not  said — "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed  "  ?  And  what  an  example 
this  will  be  before  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth !  How  it 
will  encourage  them  on  to  murder  their  children  in 
sacrifice  to  their  gods! 

We  can  readily  make  up  what  may  seem  to  us  very 
strong  arguments  against  obedience  to  such  a  com- 
mand; but  it  docs  not  appear  that  Abraham  whispered 
in  his  heart  the  first  one  of  them.  The  only  hint  wo 
have  of  his  deep  thoughts  in  the  case  comes  through 
the  writer  to  the  Hebrew  Christians— "Accounting 
that  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up  even  from  the  dead." 
Plainly  the  Lord  meant  to  show  that  his  command 
when  made  known  unquestionably  is  to  be  obeyed 
without  debate — with  no  misgivings,  no  faltering,  no 
fear.  So  Abraham  moved  firmly  on,  saying  not  a  word 
to  Sarah,  keeping  his  counsel  even  from  his  two  chosen 
servants  and  from  his  son;  holding  the  strange  secret 

in  his  solitary — shall  we  sa}^,  sad  bosom? No;  for 

there  is  not  the  first  note  of  sadness  throughout  this 
wonderful  transaction.  Look  at  those  three  days  of  on- 
going journey.  Ah,  was  not  this  a  long  time  to  think 
over  the  strange  deed !     And  those  intervening  nights  - 


122  ABRAHAM, 

was  there  any  sleep  to  his  eyes  while  this  terrible  sus- 
pense lay  still  between  the  command  and  its  execu- 
tion?  So  far  as  appears  Abraham  moved  on  with  un- 
shaken fortitude  and  undisturbed  calmness.  Certain  it 
is  that  he  never  lost  his  self-possession,  for  he  continued 
to  plan  carefully  and  even  sharply  against  disturbing 
influences.  He  could  not  trust  his  servants  to  stand 
by;  so  he  halted  them  at  a  distance  back  from  the 
scene.  He  kept  the  awful  secret  from  his  son  Isaac  un- 
til he  had  him  bound  and  laid  on  the  altar  and  the  up- 
lifted blade  was  ready  to  fall! 

This  was  the  obedience  of  faith !  The  wonderful  il- 
lustration stands  out  before  all  the  ages  with  God's  seal 

of  approbation  broadly  stamped  upon  it. When  the 

trial  had  fully  reached  its  culminating  point  and  no 
room  remained  for  doubt  that  Abraham  would  obey 
God  at  every  cost,  fearless  of  consequences,  or  rather 
committing  all  consequences  to  his  God,  then  God's 
angel  interposed!  A  ram  was  provided  for  the  sacri- 
fice and  the  son  of  promise  went  back  to  a  more  happy 
home  with  a  more  happy  father,  doubly  blessed  in  tbe 
renewed  approbation  of  his  covenant-keeping  God. 
No  wonder  that  God  proceeded  then  to  make  that  cov- 
enant stronger  and  broader  and  richer  than  ever  be- 
fore !  No  M'onder  Abraham  stamped  into  the  very 
name  of  this  ever  memorable  locality  one  of  the  grand 
moral  lessons  of  the  scene — "Jehovah  Jireh" — In  the 
mount  of  the  Lord,  himself  will  provide/  When  you  come 
to  the  mount  of  last  and  utmost  emergenc}^,  the  Lord 
will  have  salvation  ready!  His  angel  will  appear;  the 
ram  of  sacrifice  will  be  there;  and  Isaac  may  go  in 
peace ! 

According  to  the  common  law  of  Christian  experi- 
ence, God's  methods  with  Abraham  were  progressive;  his 
manifestations  of  himself  moved  on  by  successive 
stages ;  much  this  year  but  more  the  next ;  so  much  in- 
deed at  the  first  that  it  must  have  seemed  to  the  good 
man  very  great,  but  more  and  greater  were  yet  to  come. 
The  successive  epochs  at  which  God  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham to  talk  with  him  of  the  great  covenant  are  very 
distinctly  marked  in  the  history— of  such  sort  as  many 
a  Christian  might  record  in  his  own  personal  life- 
history. 


UODS    UKVELATIONS    PltOGRESSIVE.  123 

1.  In  the  outset  of  Abraham's  history  is  that  eventful  ^ 
caU  which  brought  him  out  from  "Ur  of  the  Chaldees,"  " 
the  narrative  of  which  stands  Gen.  12:  1-3.  In  the 
promise  made  to  him  then  the  leading  points  were — "I 
Avill  make  thy  name  great " ;  "I  will  make  of  thee  a 
great  nation";  "thou  shalt  be  a  blessing  and  in  thee 
shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed":  I  will 
stand  by  thee  to  bless  all  who  bless  thee  and  to  curse 

whosoever  may  curse  thee. This  must  have  raised 

in  Abram's  mind  large  expectations  and  assured  him 
that  Jehovah  was  indeed  his  own  God. 

2.  Immediately  after  Abram's  arrival  in  Canaan 
(Gen.  12 :  7)  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  specially  to 
identify  that  as  the  land  which  he  had  promised  (Gen. 
12:  1)  to  show  him  and  to  give  to  his  posterity. 
There,  as  in  each  new  home,  Abram  built  an  altar  and 
in  devout  worship  called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  who 
had  thus  appeared  to  him. 

3.  Next,  after  his  magnanimous  bearing  toward  Lot 
(13:  7-9,  14-18)  in  which  he  seemed  ready  to  waive  all 
claim  to  any  territory  Lot  might  choose  to  occupy. 
The  Lord  bade  him  lift  up  his  eyes  toward  every  point 
of  the  compass,  all  round  about  and  reiterated  his 
grant  of  the  whole — "  All  the  land  which  thou  seest  to 
thee  will  I  give  it  and  to  thy  seed  forever."  A-lso,  that 
his  seed  should  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth.  His  gener- 
ous magnanimity  toward  Lot  in  nowise  damaged  his 
standing  Avith  God  or  his  rights  in  the  goodly  land  of 
promise. 

4.  A  yet  richer  scene  of  divine  manifestation  followed 
Abram's  rescue  of  Lot  from  the  plundering  horde  of  the 
great  Eastern  kings  (Gen.  15).  The  first  words  were 
significant  and  precious  :  "  Fear  not,  Abram  ;  I  am  thy 
shield  and  thine  exceeding  great  reward."  Abram 
l^new  enough  of  human  nature  and  of  the  resentful, 
lawless  spirit  of  those  warlike  kings  to  see  that  he  was 
exposed  to  their  vengeance  and  that  they  might  return 
any  day  with  more  military  force  than  his  household 
could  muster.  It  was  therefore  at  once  timely  and 
kind  in  the  Lord  to  meet  him  at  this  point  with  this 
comforting  assurance:  "Fear  not;  I  am  thy  shield";  I 
stand  between  thee  and  those  vengeful  foes :  my  strong 
arm  shall  be  a  wall  of  fire  round  about  thee.  Moreover 
Abram  had  nobly  refused  to  appropriate  to  his  per- 


124  ABRAHAM. 

sonal  use  even  a  thread  or  a  shoe-latchet  of  the  booty 
brought  back  from  his  routed  enemies — whereupon  the 
Lord  said,  "  I  will  be  thine  exceeding  great  re- 
ward."  Truly  when  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord, 

he  not  onl}^  keeps  his  enemies  at  peace  with  him  but 

makes  all  things  go  well. On  this  re-appearance  the 

Lord  promised  him  a  son  more  distinctly  than  ever  be- 
fore, and  posterity  as  the  stars  in  number.  Here  it  is 
said  definitely — "  Abraham  believed  God  and  God 
counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness."  His  faith  pleased 
God,  and  because  of  it,  God  accepted  him  and  he  stood 

as  one  who  is  "a/^  rkilit  before  God." Remarkably 

the  Lord  at  this  time  identified  himself  to  Abraham  as 
the  same  God  who  had  appeared  to  him  in  his  father- 
land and  called  him  forth  into  Canaan  and  said,  This 
is  the  very  land  I  then  promised  to  give  thee;  to  which 
Abraham  replied  (v.  8),  "  Whereby  shall  I  know  that  I 
shall  inherit  it"?  At  once  the  Lord  proceeded  to  rat- 
ify his  covenant  in  the  usual  Oriental  manner.  A 
heifer,  a  she-goat  and  a  ram — one  from  each  species 
commonly  used  in  sacrifice — are  brought  forward;  each 
is  cut  into  two  parts;  the  parts  are  laid  asunder;  a 
turtle-dove  and  a  young  pigeon,  also  used  for  sacrifice 
in  certain  contingencies,  were  added  but  not  cut  in 
two.  Then  when  night  came  on,  a  deep  sleep  fell  upon 
Abraham  and  the  Lord  gave  him  in  vision  certain 
prophetic  views  of  his  posterity;  and  ratified  the  cov- 
enant by  passing  (in  the  symbol  of  fire  and  smoke)  be- 
tween tiie  severed  parts  of  the  sacrificial  animals.  Of 
this  method  of  ratifying  covenants  we  have  historical 
traces  in  Jer.  34 :  18-20.  We  have  also  early  and  de- 
cisive indications  of  the  same  mode  in  the  fact  that  at 
least  in  the  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  the  word 
for  ratifying  a  covenant  means  primarily  to  cut.  The 
phrase  is,  to  cut  a  covenant.  The  i:»rominent  thing  in 
the  transaction  was  the  cutting  of  the  animal  in  twain 
that  the  contracting  parties  might  pass  solemnly  be- 
tween the  parts  of  it.  It  seems  to  be  assumed  that  the 
contracting  parties  virtually  imprecated  upon  them- 
selves a  like  doom  if  they  proved  faithless  to  their  cov- 
enant. 

5.  At  the  next  eventful  appearance  Abraham  had 
been  waiting  in  faith  for  the  son  of  promise  a  quarter 
of  a  century  and  was  perhaps  tempted  to  think  the  ful- 


god's   revelations   rROQRESSIVE.  125 

fiUment  fast  becoming  impossible.  Pertinently  there- 
fore the  first  words  of  the  Lord  were — "lam  the  Almighty 
God!  Walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect" ;  fear  noth- 
ing; my  covenant  stands  fast.  I  will  multiply  thee 
exceedingly !  Abraham  fell  on  his  face  and  God  talked 
with  him,  reiterating  his  promise  of  posterity,  giving 
unwonted  prominence  to  the  family  feature  of  his 
covenant — "  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee  " — 
and  instituting  the  rite  of  circumcision. 

6.  The  sixth  and  last  recorded  appearance  followed 
the  triumjoh  of  Abraham's  faith  in  the  sacrifice  of  his 
only  son.  In  this  the  Lord  re-atHrmed  the  great  ele- 
ments of  his  promise — posterity  as  the  stars  of  heaven; 
triumphant  over  their  enemies;  a  blessing  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth. Thus  at  successive  and  some- 
what remote  intervals  and  mostly  on  special  occasions 
the  Lord  manifested  himself  to  his  servant  to  confirm 
his  faith,  to  enlarge  the  range  of  promise  and  to  signify 
liis  pleasure  in  the  obedient  trustful  life  of  his  friend. 

Such  is  the  religious  history  of  Abraham  as  related 
to  his  covenant  God.  Corresponding  to  this  is  the  his- 
tory of  his  posterity,  the  Hebrew  nation.  To  them  as 
to  their  patriarchal  father  God  manifested  himself 
through  long  ages,  at  successive  points,  e.  g.  in  their 
Egypt  life ;  in  his  uplifted  arm  over  Pharaoh  to  bring 
them  forth  in  the  memorable  Exodus  ;  at  the  Red  Sea, 
at  Sinai ;  all  through  their  wilderness  life  ;  at  the  Jor- 
dan crossing  ;  in  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  and  onward, 
onward,  till  the  coming  at  length  of  that  greater  Seed 
of  Abraham  in  whom  most  signally  were  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  to  be  blessed.  But  to  the  details  of  this 
latter  history  we  must  give  more  definite  attention  in 
their  place  and  order. 

One  other  special  feature  in  the  great  covenant  with 
Abraham  should  be  noticed. 

In  many  respects  this  covenant  made  Abraham  and 
his  posterity  a  peculiar  people,  discriminating  broadly 
between  them  and  every  other  nation,  and  accumula- 
ting the  blessings  of  God  upon  them  in  no  stinted 
measure.  It  might  be  apprehended  that  such  exclusive- 
ness  would  beget  bigotry,  national  pride  and  self-right- 
eousness; but,  with  M'isest  forethought,  the  Lord  put 
'into  this  covenant  one  counteracting  element  of  great 


126  ABRAHAM. 

power,  viz.  that  he  ordained  them  to  he  a  blessing  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  "  In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  It  was  never  the 
thought  of  God  that  the  Hebrew  people  should  live  to 
themselves  and  for  themselves — shouldgarner  their  own 
store-house  full  of  heavenly  blessings  and  leave  all  other 
peoples  to  shift  for  themselves  as  best  they  might.  No ; 
God's  plan  contemplated  the  culture  in  their  souls  of 
the  broadest  benevolence,  and  this,  pressed  into  service 
by  a  sense  of  largest  responsibility  to  meet  the  revealed 
purposes  of  God  as  to  their  Avork.  Into  this  great 
system  which  made  tliem  his  peculiar  people,  he  put, 
openly  and  clearly,  the  germinal  idea  of  a  salvation  to 
be  provided  for  the  wide  world — this  covenant  people 
to  be  the  almoners  of  all  these  blessings  to  the  otherwise 
benighted  and  perishing  nations.  Properly  understood 
and  duly  regarded,  this  germinal  idea  w'ould  have  de- 
veloped in  their  hearts  and  lives  the  true  missionary 
spirit,  would  have  given  at  once  both  breadtli  and  depth 
to  their  piety,  would  have  made  them  feel  that  God  had 
great  thoughts  of  mercy  for  the  Avhole  race  of  man,  and 
had  honored  them  as  his  ministers  in  giving  this  sal- 
vation to  every  creature.  At  the  very  least  here  Avas 
opened  a  thoroughly  rich  field  for  prayer,  tlie  broadest 
scope  for  real  sympathy  Avith  the  benevolence  of  the 
Great  Father  of  all  tlie  nations  and  a  poAverful  antidote 
against  the  narroAv  exclusiveness  Avhich  might  other- 
wise haA'C  shrunk  and  shriveled  tlieir  piety  and  nar- 
rowed their  aspirations  to  themselves  and  their 
hind.  How  often  in  the  heart  of  the  good  men 
of  later  times — the  men  like  Moses,  Samuel,  Da- 
vid, Isaiah, — must  the  kindling  thought  have  been 
sprung  by  this  great  germinal  promise — When  shall 
these  things  he?  When  shall  the  full  fruitage  of  these 
great  promises  be  realized?  What  have  Ave  to  do  to 
liastcn  the  coming  of  that  sublime  consummation? 

It  remains  to  speak  more  definitely  of  the  promises 
made  to  Abraham  as  including  the  greai  Messiah. 

In  this  as  in  most  other  Messianic  jorophecies, 
the    argument    is    threefold ; 

(1)  The  language  obviously  admits  the  Messiah,  i.  e. 
may  be  construed  without  violence  to  aj^ply  to  him, 
or  at  least  to  include  him  : 


THE    GREAT    ME.SSIAIT.  127 

(2)  Its  meaning  is  so  broad  that  it  must  include  him  ; 
the  blessings  are  too  great  to  be  suj)posed  possible  with- 
out him — apart  from  him  :  and 

(3)  The  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament  found 
the  Messiah  in  this  prophecy. 

The  substance  of  the  prophecy  is  in  the  words — "  In 
thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed  " 
(Gen.  22  :  18  and  26:  4).  Be3^ond  question  this  way  in- 
clude the  Messiah  as  the  author  of  these  really  universal 
blessings — blessings  for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Nay  more ;  the  blessings  are  too  great,  too  broad,  too  far 
reaching  to  admit  any  supposable  interpretation  short 
of  the  Messiah  and  the  gospel  age.  Historically  no  ful- 
fillment less  broad  than  the  Christian  can  possibly  be 
made  out.  In  Christ  and  in  him  only  can  this  predic- 
tion bo  fulfilled. 

And  to  crown  all,  our  Lord  himself  testifies  ;  "  Your 
father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day;  and  lie  saw  it 
and  ivas glad''  (Jno.  8:  56).  It  maybe  noticed  that  the 
word  used  by  our  Lord  was  not  me,  my  person ;  but  "  my 
day" — the  gosjoel  age;  the  great  events  of  it ;  the  Avon- 
derful  results  of  my  coming — which  is  no  doubt  the  ex- 
act truth.  It  was  rather  what  was  to  be  achieved  by 
Christ  in  the  way  of  blessings  upon  all  the  nations  than 
what  lay  in  Christ's  X'<^rson  definitely  that  Abraham 
l^rophetically  saw. 

Paul  adds  his  testimony  that  these  words  refer  to 
Christ;  (a.)  Affirming  (Gal.  3  :  8)—"  The  Scripture,  fore- 
seeing that  God  would  justify  the  nations  ["heathen"] 
through  faith,  preached  before  the  gospel  to  Abraham, 
saying, '  In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed.' "  "Preached 
before  "  is  simply  predicted,  revealed  by  prophecy,  with 
the  accessory  idea  that  the  thing  revealed  was  the  gos- 
pel, the  news  of  salvation. (b.)  To  show  that  in  his 

view  the  burden  and  fullness  of  this  prophecy  are  Christ 
and  nothing  less  or  other  than  Christ,  he  says  in  this 
connection  (v.  16) ;  "  Now  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed 
were  the  promises  made.  He  saith  not — And  to  seeds 
as  of  many,  but  as  of  one — And  to  th}^  seed,  which  is 
Christ.'^ 

Waiving  any  special  effort  to  justify  Paul's  argument 
from  the  singular  number  of  the  word  "seed,"  his  testi- 
mony is  certainly  valid  to  the  point  ibr  which  I  have 


128  ABRAHAM. 

adduced  it,  viz.  that  Paul  saw  Christ  in  this  prophecy. 
How  much  soever  the  principles  of  exegesis  may  reluc- 
tate, they  certainly  will  not  deny  that  he  interprets  the 
prophecy  concerning  Christ.  Their  complaint  would 
be  that  he  ties  it  down  to  Christ  too  exclusively. 

It  must  be  held  therefore  that  the  promises  made  to 
Abraham  really  include  a  prophecy  of  Christ.  We  could 
not  infer  from  the  record  in  Genesis  how  well  Abraham 
understood  the  reference  to  the  Messiah.  But  the  al- 
lusions to  this  point  in  the  New  Testament  give  us 
light,  our  Savior  most  distinctly  declaring — Abraham 
rejoiced  that  he  might  see  my  day;  he  smo  it — with 
great  joy.  The  writer  of  the  Ej^istie  to  the  Hebrews, 
speaking  of  Abraham  and  the  patriarchs  as  not  having 
received  the  promised  blessings  but  as  seeing  them  from 
afar  and  embracing  them,  has  in  mind  specially  their 
faith  in  the  promised  heavenly  city  (Heb.  11:  10, 13, 14, 
16),  yet  not  to  the  exclusion  of  him  who  prepares  those 
mansions  for  his  people  (Jno.  14  :  2,  3).  His  testimony 
is  in  point  to  show  that  Abraham  looked  beyond  the 
earthly  side  of  those  blessings  to  the  heavenly;  rested 
not  in  the  earthly  Canaan,  not  in  the  multitude  of  his 
lineal  sons  and  daughters ;  but  reached  out  beyond  these 
to  the  city  that  hath  eternal  foundations  and  to  the 
blessings  of  the  Great  Messiah,  good  for  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  The  nearer  and  lesser  blessings  had  a 
power  of  suggestion,  lifting  his  thought  to  the  more  re- 
mote and  greater.  A  man  who  talked  with  God  so  inti- 
mately can  not  be  supposed  to  have  missed  these 
grand  ideas  of  the  gospel  age  and  of  the  heavenly 
state  which  we  are  sometimes  wont  to  regard  as  the 
special,  not  to  say  exclusive,  revelations  of  the  New 
Testament. 

Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

Involved  in  "this  history  of  Abraham,  there  occurs 
this  ever  memorable  case  of  sudden  and  most  fearful 
judgment  upon  the  ungodly  in  this  world — the  over- 
throw of  the  cities  of  the  j^lain.  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
only  are  mentioned  by  name  in  Gen.  13:  10  and  19: 
24,  28);  in  several  cases  for  brevity,  Sodom  only;  but 
Moses  (Deut.  20 :  23)  and  Hosea  (11:8)  speak  of  Admah 
and  Zeboim  as  also  overthrown.     These  were  contigu- 


SODOM   AND   GOMORRAH.  129 

ous  and  (in  Gen.  14 :  2)  confederate  cities.  The  nar- 
rative sets  forth  their  appalling  and  absolutely  universal 
wickedness.  Other  references  suggest  the  causes  or  oc- 
casions (Ezek.  16:  49,  50),  and  intimate  that  the  bettor 
life  and  the  reproving  testimony  of  Lot  were  powerless 
(2  Pet.  2  :  7,  8). 

The  narrative  also  makes  prominent  the  immediate 
agency  of  God  in  this  destruction.  "  The  Lord  rained 
upon  Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah  fire  and  brimstone 
from  the  Lord  out  of  heaven  "  (Gen.  19:  24),  "When 
Abraham  looked  toward  Sodom  and  all  the  land  of  the 
plain,  lo,  the  smoke  of  the  country  went  uj)  as  the  smoke 
of  a  great  furnace  "  (v.  28). 

The  case  became  for  all  future  time  a  standard  illus- 
tration of  God's  most  sudden,  fearful  and  utter  destruc- 
tion of  the  wicked.  (See  Deut.  29 :  23  and  Isa.  13 :  19 
and  .Jer.  20:  16  and  50:  40  and  Amos.  4:  11  and  2  Pet. 
2 :  6  and  Jude  7.)  It  classes  itself  naturally  with  the 
deluge  of  Noah's  time  and  with  tlie  fall  of  Pharaoh's 
host  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  swallowing  up  of  Korah 
and  his  company  in  the  wilderness — all  combining  to 
show  that  God  never  lacks  the  means  or  the  power  to 
begin  his  threatened  retribution  upon  the  wicked  here 
in  time  whenever  he  deems  it  wise  for  the  moral  ends 
of  warning. 

The  question  of  secondary  agencies  is  of  altogether 
secondary  importance.  It  may  well  suffice  us  that 
God^s  hand  ^cas  there.  It  matters  but  little  M'hethcr  ho 
made  use  of  the  agencies  of  the  natural  world — light- 
ning and  the  combustible  materials  of  that  locality,  or 
otherwise.     That  these  natural  agencies  were  employed 

is  perhaps  probable. The  locality  of  those  cities  is 

undoubtedly  iden-tified,  viz.  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  now  and  for  many  ages  submerged 
though  in  quite  shallow  water.  The  adjacent  soil  af- 
fords bitumen  and  other  inflammable  substances  in 
abundance,  indicating  with  great  probability  that  a 
prodigious  discharge  of  electricity  ignited  the  Avhole 
region,  fire  from  the  Lord  out  of  heaven  gleaming  and 
crashing;  the  atmosphere  all  ablaze  with  flames  and 
the  very  ground  on  which  the  city  stood  burning  with 
terrible  fury.  It  might  seem  that  the  deep  moral  pol- 
lutions of  its  people  had  doomed  that  vast  plain  to  be 
first  purified  by  fire  and  then  sunk  from  human  view 


130  THE  ANGEL  OF  THE  LORD. 

for  all  the  coming  ages  by  its  subsidence  beneath  the 

waters  of  the  Dead  Sea. In  view  of  this  appalling 

scene,  how  terribly  significant  become  the  words  of 
Jude — "  Set  forth  for  an  example,  suffering  the  venge- 
ance of  eternal  fire  " !  How  easily  and  yet  how  fear- 
fully can  the  Almighty  execute  the  judgments  written 
against  guilty  sinners  who  scorn  his  words  of  warning 
and  dare  his  vengeance ! 

''The  Angel  qJ  the  Lord:' 

Cases  occur  in  Old  Testament  history  in  which  the 
Lord  appears  in  visible  form  and  is  called  interchange- 
ably "the  Lord"  and  "the  Angel  of  the  Lord."  See 
the  personal  historv  of  Hagar  (Gen.  16:  7, 13) ;  of  Abra- 
ham (Gen.  18  :  2,  l6,  33  and  22  :  11,  15-18)  ;  of  Jacob 
(Gen.  31 :  11-13,  16)  ;  of  Moses  (Exod.  3 :  2,  4,  6,  7,  etc., 
and  23:  20-23);  of  Gideon  (Judg.  6:  11,  12,  14,  20-23) 
and  of  Manoah  (Judg.  13:  18,  22).  The  term  "angel" 
means  in  general  a  messenger;  but  is  manifestly  ap- 
plied and  therefore  is  applicable  to  the  visible  man- 
ifestations of  God  himself,  supposably  of  the  second  per- 
son of  the  Godhead,  i.  e.  God  as  made  manifest  to  mor- 
tals. The  cases  above  referred  to  are  entirely  decisive 
as  to  the  usage  of  the  phrase,  "  The  Angel  of  the  Lord" 
in  some  cases  (not  relatively  many)  to  denote  the  very 
Presence  of  the  Lord  himself  coming  down  to  reveal 
himself  to  his  people.  In  Gen.  18  :  first  three  men  ap- 
pear before  Abraham ;  he  entertains  them.  Two  of 
them  go  on  toward  Sodom ;  one  remains  talking  with 
Abraham.  It  is  said  "Abraham  stood  yet  before  the 
Lord " ;  then  drew  near  and  offered  that  remarkable 
prayer  of  intercession  for  Sodom;  after  which  "the 
Lord   went    his   way   and    Abraham    returned  to  his 

place." In  Gen.  22,  when  Abraham  had  stretched 

forth  his  hand  to  slay  his  son,  "  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
called  to  him  out  of  heaven."  Shortly  after  (vs.  15-18) 
"  the  angel  of  the  Lord  called  vmto  Abraham  out  of 
heaven  the  second  time  and  said,  By  myself  have  I 

sworn,   saith   the   Lord,  etc Because  thou  hast 

obeyed  my  voice."  This  can  be  no  other  than  the  very 
God. The  passages  above  referred  to  from  the  his- 
tory of  Moses  are  striking.  In  Exod.  23 :  20-23  we 
read :  "  Behold  1  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee 


THE   ANGEL   OP   THE    LORD.  131 

in  the  way  and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I 
have  prepared.  Beware  of  him''  (i.  e.  not  to  offend  him) 
"and  obey  his  voice;  provoke  him  not;  for  he  will  not 
pardon  your  transgressions,  for  my  name  is  in  him" — 
name,  as  usual  in  the  sense  of  the  very  qualities  of 
character  of  which  the  name  is  a  significant  indi- 
cation. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  PATEIAECHS. 

Isaac. 

The  s^ory  of  Isaac  is  brief;  his  life  uneventful,  per- 
haps we  might  say  monotonous.  The  record  shows 
that  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  on  two  distinct  occa- 
sions; at  Gerar  (Gen.  26:  2-5),  renewing  the  covenant 
previously  made  with  Abraham,  with  a  very  full  re- 
statement of  all  its  salient  points;  also  at  Beersheba 
(26:  23-25)  where  we  are  told  "he  builded  an  altar  and 
called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  in  the  steps  of  his 

godly  father. We  see  a  point  of  his  character  in  the 

fact  stated  incidentally,  that  Esau's  marriage  into 
Hittite  families  "was  a  grief  of  mind  to  Isaac  and  to 
Eebekah."  Esau  lacked  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
the  pious  patriarchs  and  utterly  failed  to  appreciate  the 
inheritance  of  blessings  which  had  lain  so  near  the 
heart  of  his  grandfather  Abraham  and  of  his  father 
Isaac — facts  which  the  historian  touches  briefly — 
"  Thus  Esau  despised  his  birthright."  The  writer  to 
the  Hebrews  puts   the  case  forcibly :    "  Who  for  one 

morsel  of  meat  sold  his  birthright "   (12 :   16). We 

have  no  means  of  knowing  how  j^ersistcntly  and  wisely 
Rebekah  had  labored  to  win  and  hold  him  by  her 
maternal  opportunities  and  power.  In  later  years  she 
seems  to  have  Avithdrawn  her  heart  from  him  to 
give  it  (with  apparently  extreme  partialit}'-)  to  Ja- 
cob.  Of  her  duplicity  in  the  matter  of  the  paternal 

blessing,  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to  say  that  the 
fact  of  its  being  recorded  by  no  means  proves  that  the 
Lord  justified  it.  Indeed  the  absence  of  any  explicit 
condemnation  can  not  be  taken  as  equivalent  to  a  jus- 
tification. Jacob's  exile  from  his  father's  house  and 
home  for  twenty  long  years — so  manifestly  the  result 
of  this  duplicity — must  have  been  to  her  mind  pain- 
fully suggestive.  It  seems  plainly  to  have  been  one  of 
God's  ways  in  providence  to  rebuke  and  chasten  h'er 
(132)  ■ 


JACOB.  133 

for  this  wrong,  and  perhaps  we  may  add,  to  save  Jacoh's 
soul  by  removing  him  from  a  maternal  influence  which 
was  so  defective — not  to  say  faulty  and  pernicious. 

As  to  Isaac,  one  point  only  is  named  of  him  by  the 
writer  to  the  Hebrews  in  his  catalogue  of  illustrious 
examples  of  faith :  "Byfaith  Isaac  blessed  Jacoband  Esau 
concerning  things  to  come"  (11:  20).  These  benedic- 
tions (recorded  Gen.  27 :  28,  29,  33,  37,  39,  40)  must  be 
regarded  as  far  more  than  a  venerable  father's  good 
wishes — indeed  as  nothing  less  than  prophetic  bene- 
dictions— words  uttered  under  the  divine  impulses  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Their  broad  outlook  embraced  the 
great  outlines  of  the  future  history  of  the  two  nations 
that  were  before  him  in  tlie  person  of  his  two  sons. 

Jacob. 

In  Jacob's  history  there  is  no  lack  of  stirring  inci- 
dent and  critical  exigency;  in  his  character,  no  lack  of 
positive  elements  and  vigorous  force.  Bethel  where  he 
seems  to  have  found  God  first;  Mahanaim  where  the 
double  hosts  of  God  met  him  and  the  murderous  rage 
of  Esau  threatened  every  precious  life  in  all  his  house- 
hold, and  he  found  help  only  as  he  wrestled  with  the 
angel  of  the  covenant  till  he  prevailed;  the  scenes  of 
his  sojourning  in  Canaan  where  Joseph  first  comes  to 
view,  envied  and  hated  of  his  brethren,  and  his  father 
mourned  for  him  many  days  as  dead ;  and  finally  Goshen 
Avhere  the  aged  patriarch  found  his  lost  Joseph  yet 
alive  and  lord  of  all  Egypt ;  stood  before  Pharaoh  ;  saw 
his  sons  and  sons'  sons — a  growing  host;  gave  them  his 
blessing  and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers  : — surely  these 
salient  points  of  his  history  indicate  no  lack  of  adven- 
ture, and  in  the  religious  point  of  view,  abundant 
scenes  of  moral  trial — exigencies  that  tasked  his  virtue 
and  endurance,  his  faith  and  patience,  and  in  the  end 
brought  forth  his  chastened  soul  purified  b}^  the  dis- 
cipline of  suffering  and  strong  in  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham's God. 

To  understand  well  the  scenes  of  Bethel,  we  must 
tliink  of  a  young  man,  emerging  from  •  boyhood— his 
fond  mother's  chief  beloved— not  to  say,  her  pet  boy — 
never  yet  thrown  upon  his  own  resources;  an  heir  to 
wealth;    a    child    of   ease — perhaps    of   maternal    in- 


134  THE    PATRIARCHS. 

diligence ; — but  now  suddenly  brought  into  peril  of  life 
from  his  twin  brother's  indignant  rage  and  violence. 
It  would  be  so  horrible  to  the  mother  to  see  her  Jacob 
slain  by  his  own  brother's  hand  and  to  "  lose  them  both 
in  one  day " !  (Gen.  27 :  45).  Safety  seemed  to  be 
only  in  flight,  so  she  must  needs  send  him  secretly  to 
the  distant  land  of  her  birth — the  old  maternal  family 
home.  Therefore,  with  many  a  pang  of  heart,  and  (let 
us  hope)  with  many  a  prayer,  she  commended  him  to 
the  God  of  the  covenant  and  sent  him  away. 

One  day  of  thoughtful  travel  had  passed  slowly  over 
Jacob,  his  mind  traversing  by  many  rapid  transitions 
from  the  home  he  had  left  behind  to  the  new  scenes 
that  met  his  eye ;  from  the  brother  before  whose  fury  he 
was  fleeing,  to  the  unknown  experiences  of  life  among 
friends  he  had  never  seen.  At  last  the  sun  had  gone 
down;  the  eye  had  nothing  more  to  see;  weariness 
called  for  rest  and  sleep.  With  a  stone  for  his  pillow, 
WiUh  his  tunic  wrapt  about  him,  and  the  broad  heavens 
ahOTe  for  his  canopy,  he  slept  and  dreamed — dreamed 
of  a  ladder  with  its  foot  on  the  earth  beside  him  and  its 
top  in  the  heavens ;  and  wonderful  to  see !  the  angels  of 
God  descending  and  ascending  upon  it !  A  new  sense 
of  communication  between  earth  and  heaven  came 
upon  him,  assuming  a  strange  reality  when  he  saw  the 
Lord  standing  above  it  and  heard  him  say,  "  I  am  the 
Lord  God  of  Abraham  thy  father  and  the  God  of  Isaac." 
Before  this  Jacob  had  heard  of  that  wonderful  covenant 
of  God  so  often  ratified  with  his  venerable  grandfather 
and  his  father.  The  transfer  of  blessing  from  Isaac  to 
himself  as  the  lineal  heir  of  both  birthright  and  bless- 
ing was  a  thing  of  quite  recent  experience.  How  fully 
he  had  comprehended  its  glorious  significance  before 
does  not  appear;  but  now  that  he  is  cast  out  alone  upon 
the  wide,  unknown  world — now  that  he  so  much  needs 
the  Great  God  for  his  friend — it  comes  over  him  with 
solemn,  precious  interest.  The  words  spoken  were  full 
of  comfort.  They  reminded  him  of  the  great  family 
promise  to  Abraham,  renewed  to  his  father  Isaac :  "A 
God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  ihee^''  and  he  felt  that 
the  promise  put  its  finger  upon  his  own  acliing,  solitary 
heart.  He  had  a  fresh  assurance  that  his  life  Avould  not 
come  to  nought  and  be  a  failure,  for  tlie  Lord  said : 
"  The  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it  and 


JACOB.  135 

to  thy  seed ;  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the 
earth,  and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  West  and  to 
the  East ;  to  the  North  and  to  the  South ;  and  in  thee 
and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  And  lest  these  blessings  might  seem  too  re- 
mote to  ineet  his  sense  of  present  peril  and  need,  the 
Lord  kindly  added — "And  behold  I  am  with  thee  and 
will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou  goest,  and 
will  bring  thee  again  to  this  land;  for  I  will  not  leave 
thee  until  I  hav^e  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to 
thee  of."  How  deeply  these  scenes  and  words  impressed 
the  soul  of  the  youthful  Jacob  is  apparent  in  the  few 
words  which  fell  from  his  lips  when  he  came  to  the  full 
consciousness  of  wakeful  life.  "  Surely  the  Lord  is  in 
this  place,  and  I  knew  it  not " !  I  had  not  thought  to 
meet  God  here  and  to  meet  him  so!    I  thought  I  was 

utterly  alone;  but  lo!  God  is  here! We  must  suppose 

that  Jacob  had  never  been  so  near  to  God  before.  Such 
a  meeting  Avith  the  Majesty  of  heaven  was  new  to  his 
experience,  and  a  sense  of  solemn  awe — of  reverence 
amounting  to  fear,  came  upon  him : — as  the  record  is, 
"he  was  afraid  and  said,  How  dreadful  is  this  place! 
This  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is 
the  gate  of  heaven."  The  ladder  stretching  upward,  its 
foot  resting  beside  him  and  its  top  in  the  heavens,  the 
open  door  far  in  the  sky  through  which  the  angels 
seemed  to  come  and  go;  the  voice  of  the  Lord  himself 
and  withal  uttering  such  words — ah  indeed,  the  whole 
effect  was  as  if  God  and  heaven  had  truly,  dropped 
down  upon  him,  and  this  was  God's  dwelling-place  and 
heaven's  door  was  there ! 

The  scene  was  entirely  too  precious  to  be  suffered  to 
pass  into  oblivion ;  so  Jacob's  thought  turned  to  some 
memorial  of  the  scene  and  to  a  moral  adjustment  of  his 
future  life  to  this  heavenly  call.  First,  he  took  the  stone 
which  had  served  him  for  a  pillow  and  set  it  up  for  a 
'pillar  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it — a  sacred  unc- 
tion.  To   the  place  he  gave   the   significant   name 

"Bethel" — house  of  God — by  Avhich  it  was  ever  after 
known.  Then,  by  a  solemn  vow,  he  gave  himself  to  tlie 
Lord  who  had  thus  called  and  comforted  him  with  prom- 
ise. We  read,  "Jacob  vowed  a  vow,  saying,  '  If  God  will 
be  with  me  and  will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and 
will  give  mo  bread  to  eat  and  raiuiei>t  to  put  on  su  that 
7 


136  THE    PATRIARCHS. 

I  come  again  to  my  father's  house  in  peace,  then  shall 
the  Lord  be  my  God,  and  this  stone  which  I  have  set 
for  a  pillar  shall  be  God's  house ;  and  of  all  that  thou 
shalt  give  me,  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  thee.' " 
If  we  press  the  word  "tf"  at  the  head  of  this  sen- 
tence so  as  to  make  it  thoroughly  conditional,  and  withal 
suggesting  some  shades  of  doubt  whether  God  would 
prove  faithful,  we  shall  wrong  Jacob,  imputing  to  him 
Avhat  manifestly  he  could  not  have  meant.  His  words 
must  be  taken  thus  : — Inasmuch  as  God  has  so  kindly 
promised  to  be  with  me  in  all  my  otherwise  doubtful 
way,  and  to  bring  me  back  despite  of  all  peril  to  my 
father's  house  again,  I  accept  him  as  in  very  deed  my 
God;  and  out  of  all  my  accumulated  wealth,  I  will  surely 

give  one  tenth  to  him. The  spirit  is  that  of  one 

drawn  by  God's  promised  mercy — not  of  one  Avho  stands 
in  grave  doubt  whether  God  will  come  up  to  the  full 
height  of  his  promise.  These  are  the  words  of  one  who 
has  no  doubt  on  that  point  and  who  refers  to  that  prom- 
ise only  to  say  that  because  of  it,  under  the  joyful  as- 
surance of  it,  he  gives  himself  to  God  in  full,  prompt, 
and  perpetual  consecration.  A  reverent  soul  brought 
so  near  to  .God,  impressed  with  a  sense  that  heaven  and 
God  are  verily  here,  does  not  tempt  and  provoke  God  by 
expressing  the  fear  that  he  will  not  prove  faithful  to 

his  promises ! Late  into  the  morning  Jacob  lingered 

in  this  hallowed  spot  as  one  loth  to  close  such  an  inter- 
view with  God  and  break  the  charm  of  such  sacred  asso- 
ciations. And  when  at  length  he  must  go  on  his  jour- 
ney, it  was  with  far  other  heart  than  in  his  solitary 
journey  of  the  day  before. 

Of  the  scenes  of  his  sojourn  at  Haran  there  is  no  oc- 
casion to  speak  particularl3\  Perhaps  the  deception  in 
which  his  mother  and  himself  were  the  responsible 
parties  came  up  fresh  and  clear  to  him  when  he  found 
that  Laban  had  taken  similar  liberties  with  him,  giving 
him  Leah  when  Rachel  was  in  the  bond.  A  man  never 
gets  so  sharp  and  keen  a  sense  of  the  Avrong  of  these 
litile  deceptions  as  when  he  becomes  the  victim  and 
the  sting  goes  deep  into  his  own  bosom.  This  is  some- 
times the  Lord's  way  to  testify  his  disapprobation  of 
this  wrong  and  to  impress  his  own  view  of  it  U})on  those 
who  may  have  sinfully  indulged  in  it. 


MAHANAIM.  137 

Mahanaim. 

The  second  great  exigency  of  Jacob's  life  has  its  record 
in  Gen.  32.  Twenty  years  have  passed  away  in  Haran ; 
he  has  wives,  children,  and  ample  substance  of  cattle, 
sheep,  camels.  Indeed  all  his  children  except  Benja- 
min are  now  about  him.  Not  feeling  at  home  longer 
with  Laban ;  remembering  the  Lord's  promise  to  give 
Canaan  to  him  and  to  his  children ;  mindful  moreover 
of  the  scenes  of  Bethel,  and  we  may  hope,  somewhat 
fearful  lest  the  household  gods  which  Avere  dangerously 
near  the  heart  of  Laban,  might  be  a  snare  to  his  Avives 
and  children,  he  fully  makes  up  his  mind  to  return  to 
Canaan. 

At  some  point  on  this  return  journey,  (as  the  narra- 
tive states  rather  abruptly),  the  angels  of  God  met  him. 
Jacob  saw  them  and  said,  "  This  is  God's  host  " — a  con- 
voy— a  kind  of  military  guard,  the  demand  for  which 
presently  appeared.  He  gave  name  to  the  place  from 
the  fact — "  Mahanaim  " — the  double  camps  or  hosts. 
They  seem  to  have  been  an  intimation  to  him  that 
danger  was  near,  and  that  God's  hosts  were  near  also 
for  his  rescue. 

On  his  way  back  to  Canaan,  and  consequently  ap-. 
proaching  the  residence  of  Esau  in  the  land  of  Seir, 
Jacob  is  fully  aware  that  his  coming  must  be  known 
to  Esau,  and  therefore  he  sends  messengers  to  him  for 
the  purpose  of  conciliating  his  good  will.  These  mes- 
sengers soon  returned  to  Jacob,  saying ;  "  We  came  to 
thy  brother  Esau,  and  also  he  cometh  to  meet  thee  and 
four  hundred  men  with  him."  In  an  instant  Jacob 
comprehends  the  situation  and  sees  his  danger.  Those 
four  hundred  men  are  led  on  by  Esau  with  no  peaceful 
purpose.  The  lapse  of  twenty  years  has  not  sufficed  to 
quench  the  fire  of  his  wrath  and  to  revive  fraternal  af- 
fection. Still  unforgiving  he  comes  on  "breathing  out 
threatening  and  slaughter,"  exhibiting  identically  the 
same  character  which  he  impressed  on  his  posterity  and 
which  manifested  itself  in  the  vindictiveness  of  the 
Edomites  at  the  full  of  Jerusalem  before  the  Chaldean 
power.  Amos  (1 :  11,  12)  and  Obadiah  (vs.  10-16)  rep- 
resent this  vindictiveness  against  the  posterity  of  his 
brother  Jacob  as  tlio  ground  and  reason  of  God's  over- 
wliclming  judgmontson  tlieirnation  and  land.  "Because 


138  JACOB. 

he  did  pursue  his  brother  with  the  sword  and  did  cast 
off  all  pity,  and  his  anger  did  tear  perpetually,  and  he 

nursed  his  wrath  for  ever." Such  was  the  bearing  of 

his  nation  toward  the  sons  of  Jacob  in  the  day  of  Jeru- 
salem's fall ;  and  with  this  same  spirit  he  is  coming,  at 
the  point  of  his  history  now  before  us,  to  cut  off  Jacob's 

powerless   family. With    admirable    self-possession 

and  wisdom,  Jacob  laid  his  plans  promptly — first,  to 
divide  his  train  into  two  parts,  placing  one  at  some 
distance  in  advance  of  the  other,  so  that  if  the  front 
column  were  attacked,  the  rear  might  stand  some  chance 
of  escape:  and  secondly,  to  send  forward  a  valuable 
present  to  Esau; — "two  hundred  goats;  two  hundred 
ewes  and  twenty  rams  ;  thirty  milch  camels  with  their 
colts;  forty  kine;  ten  bulls;  twenty  she-asses  and  ten 
foals"  (Gen.  32:  13-15) — enough  at  least  to  arrest 
Esau's  attention  and  perhaps  to  soothe  his  spirit  toward 
his  brother.  These  he  sent  forward  with  fitting  Avords 
of  conciliation  : — but  by  far  the  most  vital  measure  of 
relief  yet  remained — prayer  to  the  Great  God  of  the  cove- 
nant. Vs.  9-12  record  the  words  of  this  prayer,  appar- 
ently as  offered  to  God  in  the  first  moments  after  the 
messengers  returned  and  apprised  him  of  his  danger. 
The  prudential  arrangements  above  named  followed, 
occupying  the  morning  hours  of  the  day.  When  night 
came  on  Jacob  was  left  alone  save  that  the  Lord  came 
down  in  form  as  a  man — the  angel  of  the  covenant — 
and  a  scene  of  struggling,  wrestling  prayer  ensued  which 
ceased  not  till  the  dawn  of  the  morning.  As  the  nar- 
rative has  it;  "Jacob  was  left  alone,  and  there  wrestled 
a  man  with  him  until  the  break  of  day.  And  when  he 
saw  that  he  prevailed  not  against  him,  he  touched  the 
hollow  of  his  thigh;  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh 
was  out  of  joint  as  he  wrestled  with  him.  And  he  [the 
angel-man]  said.  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And 
he  [Jacob]  replied — I  will  not  let  thee  go  except  thou 
bless  me.  And  he  said  unto  him,  What  is  thy  name? 
And  he  said,  Jacob.  And  he  said — Thy  name  shall  no 
more  be  called  Jacob,  but  Israel ;  for  as  a  Prince  hast 
thou  power  with  God  and  hast  prevailed.  And  Jacob 
asked  him  and  said.  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy  name ; 
and  he  said— Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after 
my  name?     And  ho  l)lessed   him  there.      And  Jacob 


THE   STRUGGLE   OF    PRAYER.  139 

called  the  name  of  the  place  Penicl,  for  I  have  seen 
God  face  to  face  and  my  life  is  preserved." 

What  we  may  call  the  costume,  tlie  purely  external 
forms  of  this  scone,  are  striking,  peculiar,  but  thoroughly 
significant.  In  view  of  the  circumstances,  there  can 
not  be  the  least  doubt  that,  mentally,  spirituall}^, — this 
is  a  scene  of  prayer — nothing  else,  less  or  more.  The 
prayer  is  a  struggle  of  soul  on  the  part  of  the  suppliant. 
lie  is  in  trouble;  he  is  shut  up  to  God  alone  for  help; 
and  he  feels  that  he  can  not  be  (levied.  The  scene  of  the 
wrestling  must  imply  that  God  debates  this  matter 
with  the  suppliant  Jacob,  apparently  resisting,  contend- 
ing,— certainly  delaying,  and  prolonging  the  conflict 
hour  after  hour  of  the  live-long  night  till  break  of  day. 
Seeing  that  he  prevailed  not  to  silence  Jacob's  suppli- 
cation, i.  e.  to  break  his  hold  as  a  wrestler,  he  touched 
the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh,  crippling  the  wrestler 
seriously,  yet  leaving  his  arms  with  strength  unim- 
paired to  hold  fast  his  antagonist.  Then  as  if  to  test 
Jacob's  faith  and  endurance  to  the  utmost,  he  said — 
"Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh  ;  "  to  which  Jacob  re- 
plied— "I  will  not  let  thee  go  except  thou  bless  me." 
Jacob  as  a  wrestler  with  one  thigh  out  of  joint  had  be- 
come powerless  to  cast  his  opponent ;  but  with  his  arms 
in  their  full  strength  he  could  hold  on — and  he  did. 
The  culminating  point  in  the  struggle  is  reached  in 
these  remarkable  words ;  "  I  will  not  let  thee  go  except 
thou  bless  me."  I  can  not  be  denied.  I  have  thy  prom- 
ise :  it  touches  this  very  case — protection  and  succor  till 
I  return  to  my  country ;  and  I  can  not  let  go  my  hold. 

I  nuist  have  help  now,  or  perish  ! The  change  of  name 

is  richly  significant.  Jacob,  i.  e.  supplanter,  suggested 
the  deception  by  which  he  obtained  from  his  blind 
father  the  blessing;  but  with  it  came  the  rage  of  his 
brother  and  this  present  peril  to  himself  and  to  his 
great  family.  "  Israel  "  means  a  prince  ivith  God — one 
who  has  prevailed  in  the  struggle  of  prayer  and  obtained 
the  blessing  he  sought.  The  change  of  name  thus  in- 
dicates the  change  in  Jacob's  relations  to  God  and  to 
Esau  which  followed  his  victory  in  this  prayer-struggle. 

But  what  is  the  significance  of  this  example  ?  What 
was  really  the  animus  of  this  conflict?  what  the  reason 
for  it ;  what  the  point  in  debate,  and  what  the  great 
moral  lessons  which  it  teaches  ? 


140  JACOB. 

Our  data  for  the  answer  to  these  questions  must  come 
from  one  or  both  of  two  sources  : 

(a.)   The  circumstances  of  the  present  case; 

(b.)  The  principles  of  GocVs  spiritual  administration  of 
grace  to  his  people  in  connection  with  prayer. 

(a")  As  to  the  circumstances  of  the  present  case : — The 
covenant  of  God  witli  .Jacob  is  very  definite.  Jacob  un- 
derstands and  manifestly  pleads  it,  as  we  see  in  this 
chapter.'  These  are  his  words  as  recorded:  "  0  God  of 
my  father  Abraham  and  God  of  my  father  Isaac  " — the 
Lord  [the  Jehovah,  signifying  the  faithful  God  of  his  peo- 
ple] "  who  saidst  to  me,  Return  unto  thy  country  and  to 
thy  kindred  and  I  will  deal  well  with  thee :  I  am  not 
worthy  of  the  least  of  all  thy  mercies  and  of  all  thy 
truth  which  thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant ;  'for 
with  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan,  and  now  I  am 
become  "two  bands.  Deliver  me,  I  pray  thee,  from  the 
liand  of  my  brother,  from  the  hand  of  Esau,  for  I  fear 
him,  lest  he  will  come  and  smite  me  and  the  mother 
with  the  children.  And  thou  saidst,  I  will  sureJy  do 
thee  good  and  make  thy  seed  as  the  sand  of  the  sea  which 

can  not  be  numbered  for  multitude." It  should  be 

noted  that  the  promise  in  this  covenant  precisely  meets 
Jacob's  present  emergency — "Return  and  I  will  deal 
well  with  thee:  thou  saidst,  I  will  surely  do  thee  good 
and  make  thy  seed  as  the  sand  of  the  sea."  These  points 
fully  covered  his  present'danger.  Jacob  doubtless  had 
in  mind  the  very  explicit  terms  of  this  covenant  as  an- 
nounced to  him  at  Bethel :  "  I  am  with  thee  and  will 
keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou  goest  and  ivill  bring 
thee  again  to  this  land;  for  I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I 
have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of."  There 
is  therefore  no  room  for  mistake  on  this  point.  The 
Lord's  promise  to  Jacob  is  explicit,  and  in  its  terms 
guarantees  perfect  protection  in  his  present  peril.  Why, 
then,  it  will  be  asked,  was  this  night-long  struggle  ? 

We  may  find  some  light  toward  the  answer  if  we  re- 
member that  every  promise  of  God  to  man  must  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  imply  certain  conditions ;■  and  the 
promise  in  this  covenant  equally  with  all  other  prom- 
ises. "If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  me."  ^  "  Ye  ask  and  receive  not  because  ye  ask 

amiss." As  bearing  on  this  very  covenant  let   us 

recall  the  ground  of  the  Lord's  confidence  that  he  should 


THE   STRUGGLE   OP   rEAYER.  141 

be  able  to  fulfill  liis  words  to  Abrabam  :  "  I  know  bim 

tbat  he  will  command  bis  children  and  his  household 

•  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to 

do  justice  and  judgment,  that  the  Lord  may  bring  iq'ion 

Abraham  that  ivhich  he  hathsj)ol:en  of  him.'''' Now  it  will 

be  in  point  to  consider  that  these  scenes  of  danger  from 
Esau's  rage  inevitably  brought  up  between  the  Lord 
and  Jacob  the  question  whether  the  deception  practiced 
upon  Isaac  to  transfer  to  Jacob  the  blessing  which  legit- 
imately fell  to  Esau  could  be  passed  over  by  the  Lord 
without  rebuke.  Was  it  proper  that  the  Lord  should 
endorse  it  with  no  rebuke  whatever  ?  If  he  were  ever 
to  bear  his  protest  against  it,  the  present  was  the  time. 

Yet  further,   the   fact   had  but  recently  come  to 

Jacob's  knowledge  that  his  favorite  Rachel  had  stolen 
her  father's  gods  and  taken  them  with  her  as  she  left 
the  family  home.  Had  Jacob  been  faithful  to  the  God 
of  his  fathers  in  teaching  and  impressing  the  worship 
of  the  one  true  God  and  in  protesting  solemnly  against 
idol-worshij:)?  And  had  he  been  firm  and  outspoken 
against  such  theft  and  deception  as  that  of  his  beloved 
Rachel?  Must  not  things  of  this  sort  be  inquired  into 
and  definitely  settled  before  the  Lord  could  interpose 
with  such  manifest  deliverance  as  would  virtually  en- 
dorse Jacob  as  right  before  God? It  ought  not  to  es- 
cape our  notice  that  while  the  narrative  in  the  preceding 
chapter  (31)  recites  the  misconduct  of  Rachel  and  shows 
that  Jacob  then  for  the  first  time  became  aware  of  the 
extent  of  her  idolatry,  theft,  and  deception^  so  a  subse- 
quent narrative  (35  :  1-4)  apprises  us  in  a  very  signifi- 
cant way  that  both  the  Lord  and  Jacob  remembered  this 
wonderful  night  of  struggle,  and  that  some  of  the  mat- 
ters then  in  issue  were  set  right.  "  God  said  to  Jacob — 
Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel  [that  place  of  so  many  hallowed 
associations]  and  dwell  there  and  make  there  an  altar 
unto  God  who  appeared  to  thee  when  thou  fleddest  from 
the  face  of  Esau  thy  brother.  Then  Jacob  said  to  his 
household  and  to  all  that  were  with  him,  Put  avay  the 
strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  be  clean,  and  change 
3^our  garments,  and  let  us  arise  and  go  up  to  Bethel, 
and  I  will  make  there  an  altar  unto  God  who  anstcered 
me  in  the  day  of  my  distress,  and  was  with  me  in  the  way 
which  I  went."  Yes,  "he  who  answered  me  in  that 
day  of  my  distress,"  before  whom  this  whole  matter  waa 


142  JACOB. 

reviewed  and  debated  through  that  long,  fearful  night — 
who  called  me  to  account  in  that  dread  emergency  and 
pointed  out  my  sins  and  put  my  soul  to  most  humble 
confession  of  past  short-comings  and  to  most  solemn 
vows  of  future  service ; — let  us  amend  our  ways  and  our 
doings  before  the  eye  of  this  holy  God  who  mercifully 
spared  us  in  that  fearful  hour.  These  circumstances 
throw  light  upon  this  remarkable  scene  of  prayer. 

(b.)  We  may  also  call  to  mind  tlie  principles  of  God's 
spiritual  administration  over  his  people  in  respect  to  ansurer- 
imj  their  prayer. 

Here  it  is  safe  to  say  that  God  never  delays  to  ansAver 
prayer  without  some  good  reason.     He  could  not  delay 

from  mere  caprice. On  the  other  hand  he  may  delay 

the  blessing  sought,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  it  before 
the  suppliant's  mind  till  he  shall  better  appreciate  it3 
worth,  and  his  own  dependence  on  God  alone  for  it,  and 
that  he  may  accept  it  more  gratefully  and  prize  it  more 
adequately  when  it  comes.  The  reasons  for  delay  may 
often  lie  in  this  direction;  but  in  the  present  case  of 
Jacob  we  must  look  elsewhere,  since  in  his  fearful 
emergency  this  particular  reason  is  scarcely  supposable. 
His  case  was  so  urgent  and  involved  interests  so  dear 
and  so  near  to  his  very  soul  that  his  mind  could 
scarce  need  to  be  sharpened  to  more  intense  desire  or 
impressed  with  a  deeper  sense  of  dependence. 

Again,  God  often  holds  the  suppliant  in  suspense  for 
the  sake  of  throwing  him  upon  self-examination.  It 
may  be  simply  indispensable  both  for  the  good  of  the 
suppliant  and  for  the  honor  of  God  that  he  should  be 
put  to  the  deepest  self-searching,  to  compel  reflection 
and  consideration  for  the  purpose  of  convicting  him  of 
some  sin  that  must  needs  be  seen,  confessed,  repented 
of  and  put  utterly  away.  We  must  not  overlook  the 
great  fact  that  when  God  grants  signal  blessings  in  an- 
swer to  any  man's  praj^er,  it  will  be  taken  as  a  tacit  in- 
dorsement on  God's  part  of  this  man's  spiritual  state. 
It  will  be  considered  as  God's  testimony  that  he  is  not 
"regarding  iniquity  in  his  heart"— that  there  are  no 
iniquities  palpable  to  the  world  and  present  to  the 
man's  own  consciousness — indulged  and  not  condemned 
and  forsaken.  On  this  principle  it  often  happens  that 
God  must  needs  compel  the  praying  soul  to  the  most 


THE    LAW   OF   PREVAILING    PRAYER.  143 

thorough  heart-searching  and  to  the  most  absolute  and 
complete  renunciation  of  known  sin,  before  he  can  hon- 
orably and  safely  bestoAV  signal  blessings. 

If  now  we  place  this  obvious  principle  of  God's  spir- 
itual administration  alongside  of  the  well-known  facts 
of  Jacob's  history,  we  shall  readily  see  reasons,  ap- 
parently all-sufficient,  for  this  long  delay  and  this  re- 
markable struggle  of  prayer  before  the  blessing  was 
given.  The  Lord  was  searching  his  servant  and  im- 
pressing some  great  principles  of  practical  duty  upon 
his  mind  under  circumstances  well  adajjted  to  insure 
very  thorough  reformation. 

When  Jacob  at  length  prevailed  and  the  Lord  blessed 
him  there,  the  crisis  was  past,  and  the  danger  really 
over.  It  was  only  for  the  Lord  to  put  forth  his  finger 
and  touch  the  heart  of  Esau: — then  the  revenge  and 
murderous  rage  of  the  Esau  that  was,  gave  place  to  fra- 
ternal kindness  and  sympathy.  We  read,  "Esau  ran 
to  meet  Jacob  and  embraced  him  and  fell  on  his  neck 
and  kissed  him;  and  they  wept"  (Gen.  33:  4).  The 
result  therefore  was  far  more  and  better  than  a  mere 
escape  with  life  from  Esau's  murderous  purpose.  It 
was  the  reconciliation  of  long  alienated  brothers.  At 
least  it  secured  one  precious  scene  of  fraternal  sympa- 
thy and  love. We  read  little  of  Esau's  subsequent 

life.  The  brothers  met  at  the  death-bed  and  grave  of 
their  father  (Gen.  35 :  29) ;  perhaps  their  paths  never 
came  in  contact  again. 

The  scenes  of  Mahanaim  have  afforded  to  the  godly 
of  all  future  ages  some  new  light  on  the  great  subject 
of  prayer.  This  was  the  first  strong  decisive  case  on 
record  of  prevalence  in  prayer.  Abraham  interceded 
long  for  Sodom ;  but  Avith  no  further  result  than  to 
show  that  God  was  very  condescending  to  hear  such 
prayer,    yet    that     the    thing    asked    could    not     be 

granted. Here  is  a  case  of  positive  victory — a  real 

prevailing  with  God,  reached,  however,  only  after  a 
most  remarkable  struggle.  It  is  a  great  advance  in  the 
revealed  science  of  prayer  to  have  a  case  so  illustrative 
as  this  of  the  great  laws  of  prevailing  prayer. 

Jacob  and  Joseph. 

The  group  of  historic  incidents  in  which  Jacob  and 


144  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

Joseph  Avere  prominent  actors  is  eventful  and  striking; 
in  some  points  Avithout  a  parallel  in  human  history. 
If  it  Avere  fiction,  a  mere  drama,  Avrought  out  by  some 
gifted  imagination,  it  could  not  fail  to  command  the 
admiration  of  men  as  a  most  finished  plot,  a  wonderful 
outline  of  strange  varieties  of  human  character.  Truth 
is  sometimes  "  stranger  than  fiction  " :  and  the  careful 
reader  of  tliis  narrati\'e  Avill  testify,  far  more  instructive 
and  impressive. 

The  points  of  chief  value  AA'ill  be  readily  embraced 
under  tlie  folloAving  heads : 

I.  Tlie  striking  developments  of  personal  character 
in  the  case  of  Jacob,  .Joseph,  and  his  brethren. 

II.  The  hand  of  God  in  this  history,  manifested  in 
two  .respects:  (a.)  In  the  suffering  and  moral  trial  of 
the  righteous :  (b.)  In  his  overruling  control  of  the 
AAHcked  to  bring  forth  abounding  good  from  their  Avick- 
edness. 

ril.  The  divine  plan  and  purpose  in  locating  the 
birth  of  the  great  HebrcAV  nation  in  such  contact  with 
Egypt. 

IV.  Egyptian  history  and  life,  studied  in  connection 
with  this  sacred  narrative  as  affording  confirmation  of 
its  truthfulness. 

I.  The  reader  of  Gen.  34  and  35  and  37  and  38  will 
see  that  the  ten  older  brethren  of  Joseph  AA'ere  "  hard 
boys."  Tlie  sacred  historian  must  have  been  quite 
AAalling  to  give  this  impression,  else  he  Avould  not  have 
recorded  Reuben's  incest  Avith  his  father's  concubine 
(3-5:  22),  nor  Judali's  criminal  connection  Avith  a  sup- 
posed harlot  who  proved  to  be  his  OAvn  daughter-in-law 
(Gen.  38),  nor  tlie  pitiless  cruelty  of  Simeon  and  Levi 
Avhen  stirred  up  to  revenge  the  dishonor  done  to  their 
sister  Dinah  (Gen.  34).  Especially  do  the  worst  ele- 
ments of  depraved  character  appear  in  their  treatment 
of  their  younger  brother  Joseph.  The  narrative  (Gen. 
37)  is  brief;  gives  facts  without  comments;  but  tchat 
facts!  Joseph  Avas  young  and  very  simple-hearted. 
Up  to  the  point  Avhere  the  history  introduces  him,  he 
had  been  trained  in  a  religious  home — AAdiich  seems 
scarcely  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  ten  older 
sons.  Their  shepherd  life  took  them  into  distant  parts 
of  the  country,  and  seems  practically  to  have  removed 
them  much  of  the  time  from  home  and  its  domestic  in- 


DEVELOPMENTS    OF    CHARACTER.  145 

fluencGS.  Unfortunately  the  domestic  influences  of 
that  polygamous  home  were  by  no  means  so  wholesome 
as  a  religious  home  ought  to  furnish.  Envy  and  jeal- 
ousy were  stimulated  into  fearful  strength. 

Joseph  was  sent  to  help  the  sons  of  Bilhah  and  Zilpah. 
Painfully  impressed  by  their  misdeeds,  he  reported 
them  to  his  father.  The  special  love  of  this  aged  father 
for  Joseph,  manifested  in  the  "  coat  of  many  colors  " 
(really  a  long  tunic  reaching  to  the  wrists  and  ankles) 
occasioned  more  rankling  jealousy.  Finally,  Joseph's 
remarkable  dreams  Avhich  his  simplicity  related  M'ith- 
out  apparently  a  thought  of  giving  offense,  brought 
their  animosity  to  its  climax.  Soon  Joseph  is  thrown 
into  their  poAver.  They  see  him  coming  and  conspire 
to  take  his  life.  "Come, '  (say  they)  "let  us  slay  him 
and  cast  him  into  some  pit,  and  we  will  say,  "Some 
evil  beast  hath  devoured  him  ;  and  we  shall  see  what 
will  become  of  his  dreams."  We  are  not  told  which  of 
them  suggested  this  murderous  purpose.  Reuben,  the 
eldest  brother,  was  the  first  to  protest.  His  jDlan  was 
that  they  should  cast  him  alive  into  some  pit;  and 
then  in  their  absence  he  could  take  him  out  and  return 
him  safely  to  his  father.  They  consented;  stripped 
him  of  his  new  coat,  and  cast  him  into  a  pit  without 
water.  [These  pits  were  dug  in  that  poorly  watered 
country  for  the  sake  of  getting  water  for  their  cattle.] 
Then  the}^  sat  down  to  eat  bread,  perhaps  compliment- 
ing themselves  that  they  had  not  murdered  him,  but 
had  shown  their  power  and  for  the  present  had  put 
him  out  of  their  way.  Manifestly  their  consciences 
were  dead  to  that  sense  of  guilt  which  a  few  years  later 
forced  them  to  say,  "  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning 
our  brother  in  that  w^e  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul 
when  he  besought  us  and  we  would  not  hear"  (Gen. 
42 :  21).  Just  then  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelites  and  Mid- 
ianites  came  in  sight,  moving  toward  Egypt,  and 
Judah  came  to  the  rescue  with  the  proposition  to  take 
up  Joseph  and  sell  him,  to  be  taken  as  a  slave  to  Egypt. 
With  some  manly  feeling  he  says—"  What  profit  is  it 
if  we  slay  our  brother  and  conceal  his  blood?  Come, 
let  us  sell  him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  let  not  our  hand 
be  upon  him,  for  he  is  our  brother  arid  our  flesh ;  and 
his  brethren  were  content." Reuben's  better  quali- 
ties come  up  to  view  again  when  he  returned  to  the  pit, 


146  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

hoping  to  rescue  his  brother — but  found  no  Joseph 
there!  "He  rent  his  clothes";  he  came  to  his  breth- 
ren exclaiming,  "The  child  is  not; — and  I — whither 
shall  I  go?" 

In  the  next  scene  these  brethren  were  if  possible 
more  heartless  still.  It  commonly  happens  that  one 
crime  demands  another  and  yet  another  to  conceal  the 
first.  So  in  this  case,  the  next  thing  is  to  deceive 
their  father  even  though  it  torture  him  with  the  ag- 
ony of  supposing  his  favorite  son  devoured  by  some 
evil  beast.  They  kill  a  kid ;  stain  Joseph's  coat  with 
its  blood;  and  then  send  it  to  their  father,  saying, 
"This  have  we  found;  see  whether  it  be  thy  son's  coat 
or  not."  There  was  no  mistaking  the  coat,  and  Jacob's 
grief  is  heart-breaking.  Remarkably  it  is  said  that 
"  all  his  sons  and  all  his  daughters  rose  up  to  comfort 
him,  but  he  refused  to  be  comforted  " ;  and  he  said,  "  I 
will   go  down   into  the   grave   to  my  son   mourning. 

Thus  his  father  wept  for  him." How  easily  those 

sons  might  have  said :  "  Father,  we  have  sinned  against 
God  and  against  thee;  but  Joseph  is  not  slain  by  lions; 
we  sold  him  into  Egypt!  You  may  live  to  see  him 
again."  But  not  even  Reuben  or  Judah  had  con- 
science, and  truthfulness,  and  filial  affection  enough  to 
reveal  the  guilty  secret.  Miserable  comforters  were 
they  all  to, their  father's  broken  heart! 

Leaving  Jacob  to  long  years  of  bitterest  grief,  we  fol- 
low the  fortunes  of  Joseph.  From  this  point  the  thread 
of  the  story  takes  him  into  Egypt  a  slave.  Sold  to 
Potiphar,  an  officer  under  Pharaoh,  it  soon  became  ap- 
parent that  the  Lord  was  with  him  and  made  every 
thing  prosper  under  his  hand.  He  rises  rapidly  in  the 
confidence  of  his  master;  is  put  in  charge  of  all  his 
house — but  here  springs  up  a  new  trial.  Joseph  is 
beautiful  in  person  and  amiable  in  manners.  Pot- 
iphar's  wife,  lewd  and  shameless,  tempts  him  with  so- 
licitations to  adultery.  Joseph's  bearing  in  this  case 
was  worthy  to  be  put  on  permanent  record  to  pass 
down  through  all  future  generations  to  the  end  of  time, 
a  perfect  model  of  both  virtue  and  Vv^sdom — the  virtue 
that  resists  seductive  temptation  with  unwavering 
firmness ;  and  the  wisdom  that  comprehends  and  ap- 
plies   the    perfect    methods   of    resisting    temptation. 


JOSEPH   IN    EGYPT.  147 

Joseph  did  not  dally  with  his  tempter;  did  not  suffer 
the  temptation  to  gather  new  force,  but  met  it  in- 
stantly with  the  strongest  considerations  possible — 
"How  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness  and  sin  against 
God  /"  God,  said  he  to  himself,  is  my  best  friend ;  I  am 
his  servant.  He  has  stood  by  me  through  all  my  trials 
and  given  me  this  great  prosperity;  his  pure  eye  is  on 
me;  I  can  not  do  this  great  wickedness  against 
him ! The  sense  of  a  present  God  settled  the  ques- 
tion forever.  There  was  indeed  another  line  of  consid- 
erations— his  obligations  to  the  husband  of  this  lewd 
woman.     Potiphar  had  trusted  him  most  entirely ;  shall 

he  abuse  this  trust?     Never. Thus  Joseph's  course 

was  at  once  decided.  But  this  vile  woman  persisted  in 
her  solicitations,  till  at  length,  maddened  by  her  fail- 
ure, she  plotted  his  death.  She  laid  hold  of  his  gar- 
ment ;  he  escaped  leaving  it  in  her  hands.  With  this 
for  her  proof  she  accuses  Joseph  of  the  crime  of  which 
she  alone  was  guilty.  Joseph  is  thrown  into  prison — 
because  of  his  virtue  and  not  because. of  any  crime. 
Of  course  the  Lord  Avas  Avith  him  still,  and  again 
Joseph  rises  in  the  favor  and  confidence  of  those  in 
power;  is  put  in  charge  of  all  matters  in  the  i:>rison, 
and  thus  the  Lord  turned  this  great  trial  to  account  to 
bring  Joseph  before  Pharaoh.  Long  was  the  trial;  the 
story  of  his  relations  to  the  chief  butler  and  the  chief 
baker  is  in  point  chiefly  as  showing  how  ungratefully 
the  butler  could  forget  his  imjirisoned  friend  and  pro- 
long his  imprisonment.  But  the  hour  of  deliverance 
came  at  last.  Pharaoh's  two  dreams  impressed  and  dis- 
turbed his  mind  so  much  that  he  summoned  all  his 
wise  men  to  his  help — but  in  vain.  At  this  opportune 
moment  the  chief  butler  remembers  Joseph.  He 
should  have  spoken  of  him  to  the  king  two  years  be- 
fore ;  but  engrossed  with  his  own  prosperity,  he  forgot 
liis  prison  benefactor  till  this  time.  Joseph  comes  to 
the  help  of  the  king.  His  first  answer  is  beautifully 
modest  and  fragrant  with  piety.  "  I  have  heard  of 
thee,  said  the  king,  that  thou  canst  understand  a 
dream  to  interpret  it."  Joseph  replies:  "It  is  not  in 
me ;  God  shall  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace  "  (Gen. 
41 :  16).  The  dreams  are  interpreted  to  signify  seven 
years  of  overflowing  i:)lenty,  followed  by  seven  of  ex- 
treme famine  throughout  all  the  land.     Joseph  suggests 


148  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

to  the  king  to  store  up  the  excess  of  the  plentiful 
years  against  the  deficiencies  of  the  famine  years. 
The  king  sees  tlie  wisdom  of  this  suggestion  and  at 
once  appoints  Joseph  to  this  responsibility;  in  fact, 
sets  him  over  all  Egypt,  save  only  in  the  honors  of  the 
throne. 

At  this  point  the  historic  thread  brings  Jacob  and  his 
sons  in  Canaan  to  view  again.  We  are  not  told  whether 
they  had  the  seven  years  of  exuberant  plenty  there,  but 
the'years  of  famine  were  there  in  terrible  power.  They 
were  soon  breadless.  The  father  hears  that  there  is 
corn  in  Egypt ;  so  he  sends  ten  of  his  sons — all  that  are 
with  him  save  Benjamin — to  get  corn.  It  was  to  be 
brought  on  the  backs  of  their  asses,  and  therefore  it  was 
wise  to  send  them  all  together. 

The  scenes  that  follow  are  told  with  masterly  simplic- 
ity. Joseph  knows  them;  they  do  not  recognize  him  : 
What  policy  shall  he  pursue  ?  Why,  we  may  perhaps 
ask,  why  does  he  not  make  himself  known  to  them  at 
once?  Why  does  he  treat  them  so  roughly;  accuse 
them  of  being  spies ;  tlirow  them  all  into  prison  for 
three  days ;  propose  to  keep  them  all  confined  save  one 
and  send  him  back  after  Benjamin ;  but  finally  com- 
promises the  matter  by  taking  Simeon  as  a  hostage, 
binding  him  before  their  eyes,  and  then  consenting  that 
the  rest  may  go  home  and  bring  Benjamin  down  as  the 
condition  of  Simeon's  release  ?  Why  does  he  put  their 
money  into  the  mouth  of  each  man's  sack  of  corn  ?  Why 
this  long  delay,  and  these  searching,  harassing  prelim- 
inaries ? 

It  was  not  that  Joseph  was  hard-hearted  and  rather 
enjoyed  using  his  power  and  taking  some  revenge — 
nothing  of  this  sort.  It  is  indeed  said  in  the  first  stage 
of  this  interview — "Joseph  remembered  the  dreams 
which  he  dreamed  of  them  "  (Gen.  42  :  9),  and  thereupon 
said,  "  Ye  are  spies ;  to  see  the  nakedness  of  the  land 
are  ye  come."  But  this  only  shows  that  his  policy  was 
settled  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment.  He  saw  what  he 
needed  to  accomplish  and  laid  his  plans  accordingly. 
The  whole  narrative  shows  that,  so  far  from  being  void 
of  fraternal  feeling  and  hard-hearted,  in  fact  it  tasked 
his  firmness  of  character  to  the  utmost  to  suppress  his 
emotions  sufficiently  to  carry  out  his  purpose.  His 
main  i:)urpose  was  to  bring  them  to  thorough  repentancf;. 


JOSEPH   IN    EGYPT.  149 

For  this  end  he  must  needs  throw  their  thought  back 
upon  their  great  sin  and  bring  the  heavy  pressure  of 
present  caUxmity  upon  them  with  all  its  suggestive 
power  to  show  them  tliat  God  was  taking  them  in  hand 
for  that  wickedness.  He  also  wished  to  see  how  they 
felt  toward  their  father  and  toward  Benjamin.  Their 
feeling  toward  both  the  father  and  his  youngest  son 
would  be  an  index  of  their  penitence  for  their  great  sin 
toward  himself. 

Joseph  was  a  man  of  consummate  wisdom.  Few  men 
have  ever  lived  who  understood  human  nature  better 
than  he,  or  could  plan  better  for  a  given  effect.  Conse- 
quently we  shall  not  miss  greatly  if  we  infer  his  design 
from  the  actual  effect.  AV^hen  we  see  what  he  accom- 
plished, we  are  reasonabl}'  safe  in  saying — This  is  what 
he  aimed  to  do. 

Observe  now  that  the  first  scene  had  not  fully  trans- 
]ured  ere  he  heard  them  saying  one  to  another,  "We 
are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother  in  that  we  saw 
the  anguish  of  his  soul  when  he  besought  us  and  we 
would  not  hear ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us." 
And  Reuben  answered  them  (^.  e.  interposed  at  that 
point)  sa3dng,  Spake  I  not  unto  you,  saying.  Do  not  sin 
against  the  child;  and  ye  would  not  hear?     Therefore, 

behold  also,  his  blood  is  required." Joseph  saw  that 

his  scheme  was  taking  effect ;  their  consciences  were 
at  work.  How  his  own  heart  must  have  throbbed! 
Accordingly  we  read — "  He  turned  himself  about  from 
them  and  wept."  But  the  work  is  not  yet  complete ;  so 
he  brushed  away  the  tears  and  "returned  to  them  and 
took  from  them  Simeon  and  bound  him  before  their 
eyes."  Why  he  chose  Simeon  is  not  indicated.  Per- 
haps— not  to  say  probably — he  was  the  leading  spirit 
in  the  cruel  scenes  thirteen  years  before.  We  remem- 
ber that  Simeon  and  Levi  led  off  in  that  bloody  afi'ray 
with  the  men  of  Shechem.  However  this  may  be,  he 
was  the  eldest  after  Reuben;  and  Reuben,  though  a 
coarse,  rough  nature,  was  on  the  side  of  mercy  toward 
the  abused  -Joseph.  Simeon,  therefore,  is  chosen  for  the 
hostage,  to  be  kept  in  close  confinement  while  the  rest 
are  dismissed  to  go  home.  Simeon  will  have  abundant 
time  to  think  over  the  guilty  deeds  of  that  dreadful 
past !  Let  us  hope  that  it  brought  him  to  genuine  re- 
pentance. 


150  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

The  narrative  details  the  return  of  the  nine  brethren 
to  their  father's  house ;  how  they  told  their  story  there ; 
how  Jacob  rebuked  them  for  disclosing  their  youngest 
brother ;  how  he  struggled  desperately  against  his  man- 
ifest destiny;  how  he  said — Benjamin  shall  never  go 
down  into  Egypt ;  how  Reuben  interposed  in  his  rough 
way,  saying  to  his  father :  "  Slay  my  two  sons  if  I  bring 
not  Benjamin  back  to  thee" — as  if  he  could  not  see 
that  murdering  two  of  his  grandchildren  Avould  be  in- 
linitely  far  from  helping  the  matter  or  affording  the 
least  relief.  With  better  good  sense  and  a  more  just  ap- 
])reciation  of  his  father's  feelings,  Judah  pled  with  his 
lather:- -We  shall  all  die  of  starvation  unless  we  go 
down  to  Egypt  for  corn:  we  must  take  Benjamin  with 
us — else  we  get  no  corn.  "  Send  the  lad  with  me ;  I 
will  be  surety  for  him.  Of  my  hand  shalt  thou  require 
him :  if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee  and  set  him  before 
thee,  then  let  me  bear  the  blame  forever"  (Gen.  43 :  8-10). 

'The  heart  of  their  father  Israel  comes  to  view  here — 

yielding  to  the  inevitable  necessity;  wisely  getting  up 
a  liberal  present  of  the  best  fruits  of  their  land ;  double 
money,  to  return  what  came  home  with  them  in  their 
sack's  mouth,  and  to  buy  again.  Saddest  of  all  he  gave 
up  his  dear  Benjamin,  and  then  with  many  a  prayer 
he  sent  them  to  Egypt  a  second  time :  "  And  God  Al- 
mighty give  you  mercy  before  the  man  that  he  may 
send  aAvay  your  other  brother  and  Benjamin:  If  I  be 

bereaved  of  my  children,  I  am  bereaved." But  he  did 

not  see  the  deep  thoughts  of  God  in  these  trying  scenes, 
and  perhaps  he  had  not  yet  fully  learned  how  wise  and 
safe  it  is  to  trust  Almiglity  God  to  bring  out  his  own 
re.'^ults  in  his  own  way !  He  will  learn  more  by  and 
by. 

Events  thicken ;  the  final  consummation  hastens  on. 
They  are  in  Egypt  again  and  stand  before  Joseph.  His 
quick  eye  sees  his  beloved  brother  Benjamin  among 
them.  At  once  he  gives  orders  to  the  ruler  of  his  house 
to  prepare  a  dinner  for  all  these  men  and  to  bring  them 
all  into  his  house.  A  deeper  fear  seizes  upon  them  : 
what,  say  they,  can  this  mean  ?  Wliat  new  charges, 
what  prosecutions,  what  fresh  dangers,  are  coming  now? 
They  meet  the  Steward  at  the  door  and  tell  him  their 
^tory  about  the  returned  money.  The  recognition  of 
God  in  his  reply  seems  strange  for  an  Egyptian — unless 


JOSEPH    IN    EGYrX.  151 

we  suppose  that  Josei")!!  had  given  him  the  words.  He 
said,  "  Peace  be  to  you  ;  fear  not ;  your  God  and  the  God 
of  your  fathers  hath  given  you  treasure  in  your  sacks. 
I  had  your  money  "  (Gen.  43 :  23).  "  And  he  brought 
Simeon  out  to  them" — which  might  Avell  have  given 

some   relief   to  their  burdened  hearts. The  dinner 

hour  approaches;  they  are  to  eat  with  the  lord  of  the 
land.  They  get  their  presents  ready ;  and  when  Joseph 
appeared  "  they  bowed  themselves  to  him  to  the  earth." 
The  historian  is  careful  to  mention  this  for  its  bearing 
as  the  fulfillment  of  that  long  past  dream  of  the  bo.y 
Joseph.  With  the  true  politeness  of  profound  sincerity 
Joseph  inquires  about  his  father  :  "  Is  your  father  well — 
the  old  man  of  Avhom  ye  spake  ?  Is  he  yet  alive  ?  " 
"  And  they  answered :  Thy  servant  our  father  is  in  good 
health;  he  is  yet  alive;  and  [again]  they  bowed  down 

their  heads  and  made  obeisance." Now  his  eye  falls 

on  Benjamin,  his  own  mother's  son,  and  he  asks — "  Is 
this  your  younger  brother  of  whom  ye  spake  unto  me  ? 

God  be  gracious  unto  thee  my  son." Ah,  but  Joseph's 

heart  is  too  full ;  "  he  made  haste,  for  his  bowels  did 
yearn  upon  his  brother;  and  he  sought  where  to  weep, 
and  he  entered  into  his  chamber  and  wept  there."  But 
the  time  has  not  come  yet  to  i-eveal  himself;  the  search- 
ing ordeal  through  which  he  must  needs  make  his 
brethren  pass  has  not  fully  done  its  work ;  so  Joseph 
washes  ofi"  the  tears ;  refrains  himself  from  shedding 
more,  and  orders  the  food  set  on.  The  brethren  of 
Joseph  had  probably  a  rather  pleasant  time — only  it 
seemed  strange  to  them  that  they  were  seated  by  age 
from  the  eldest  to  the  youngest  and  Benjamin  had  a 
five-fold  mess !  How  comes  it  that  the  lord  of  Egypt 
knows  so  much  about  us  ?     They  can  not  see. 

They  are  getting  ready  now  for  home ;  their  sacks  are 
filled  with  corn  again,  and  again  the  money  is  put  back 
into  each  sack's  mouth,  and  Avorst  of  all,  Joseph's  silver 
cup  is  slipped  into  the  mouth  of  Benjamin's  sack.  Ere 
they  are  fairly  out  of  the  city  Josej^h  posts  his  steward 
after  them,  abruptly  charging  them  with  having  un- 
gratefully stolen  his  lord's  silver  cup.  Consciously  in- 
nocent and  deeply  indignant,  they  are  rash  enough  to 
say — Let  the  man  in  whose  sack  it  is  found  die,  and  take 
all  the  rest  of  us  for  slaves !  How  were  they  amazed 
and  overwhelmed  when  the  cup  was  found  in  Benja- 


152  JACOB    AND   JOSEPH. 

mill's  sack!  They  rent  their  clothes  in  bitterness  of 
heart,  and  all  return  to  the  cit_y.  Judah  comes  to  the 
front  here ;  it  is  "  Judah  and  his  brethren  "  who  come 
to  Joseph's  house,  and  Judah  who  makes  the  plea  in 
behalf  of  Benjamin.  The  historian  is  careful  to  say 
again  tliat  when  they  met  Joseph  "  they  fell  before  him 
on  the  ground."  He  also  remarks  that  Joseph  was  yet 
in  his  house,  having  remained  there  ever  since  the 
caravan  left  in  the  early  morning,  too  full  of  thought 

on  this  subject  to  turn  to  any  other  business. Now 

he  expects  to  learn  how  they  "feel  toward  Benjamin  and 
toward  their  aged  fatlier.  He  must  be  sure  the}^  are  all 
right  on  these  points  before  he  lifts  the  vail  and  shows 

them  himself. They  are  brought  back  as  criminals 

before  him.  With  a  sternness  tliat  is  not-  at  all  in  his 
heart  but  in  his  assumed  manner  only,  he  says — What 
deed  is  this  that  ye  have  done?  Were  ye  not  aware 
that  I  have  the  power  of  positive  and  certain  divina- 
tion?  Judah  is  in  deep  i^erplexity — but  he  speaks 

frankly:  "What  shall  we  say  unto  my  lord?  or  how 
shall  we  clear  ourselves  ?  God  hath  found  out  the  in- 
iquity of  thy  servants" — which  words  can  not,  it  would 
seem,  refer  "to  any  iniquity  in  the  matter  of  tlie  silver 
cup,  but  must  have  referred  to  the  long  past  crime  of 
the  brethren  toward  Joseph.  He  can  not  say  less  than 
that  they  Avill  all  become  the  slaves  of  Joseph,  all  in- 
cluding even  Benjamin. No,  replies  Joseph ;  I  want 

only  the  guilty  man,  Benjamin ;  all  the  rest  of  you  may 

go  in  peace  to  your  father ! Now  the  crisis  so  long 

dreaded  has  come.  A  terrible  responsibility  falls  upon 
Judah.  With  wonderful  simj^licity,  with  most  touching 
filial  affection  toward  his  father,  and  with  masterly  skill 
he  rises  to  the  moral  sublimity  of  the  occasion.  He 
comes  near  to  Joseph  and  begins  his  great  plea.  Every 
reader  must  study  it.  We  shall  need  to  go  far  to  find 
more  touching  eloquence,  a  more  masterly  setting  forth 
of  the  facts  of  the  case  including  the  whole  story  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end.  The  case  of  the  aged  father 
and  of  his  two  younger  sons  left  him  by  his  best  beloved 
wife — put  in  the  aged  patriarch's  own  words — ran  thus: 
"  Ye  know  that  my  wife  bear  me  two  sons,  and  the  one 
went  out  from  me,  and  I  said — Surely  he  is  torn  in 
pieces,  and  I  have  not  seen  him  since  ;  and  if  ye  take 
this  also  from  me,  and  mischief  befall  him,  ye  shall  bring 


JOSEPH   IN    EGYrT.  153 

down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  Now 
therefore  when  I  come  to  thy  servant  my  father  and 
the  lad  be  not  with  us;  (seeing  that  his  life  is  bound 
uj^  in  the  lad's  life) — when  he  shall  see  that  the  lad  is 
not  with  us  he  will  die;  and  thy  servants  will  bring 
down  the  gray  hairs  of  our  father  with  sorrow  to  the 
grave.  I  said  to  him,  If  1  bring  not  Benjamin  hack,  I 
will  bear  the  blame  forever.  Now  therefore  I  pray 
thee,  let  me  abide  instead  of  Benjamin,  the  bond-servant 
of  my  lord,  and  let  him  go  back  to  his  father.  For  how 
shall  I  go  to  my  father  and  the  lad  be  not  wdth  me? 
Lest  peradventure  I  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  on  my 

father." This  was  more  than  Joseph  could  bear.    He 

could  refrain  himself  no  longer;  the  tears  would  come ; 
the  swelling  emotions  must  have  vent.  Joseph  cried  : 
"  Have  every  man  away  from  me  save  these  men  of 
Canaan."  The  proof  of  their  love  to  their  aged  father 
and  to  Benjamin  is  unmistakable;  Joseph  is  satisfied. 
They  are  penitent  for  their  long  past  crime  against  him, 
and  he  can  therefore  at  length  break  the  secret  and 
show  himself  their  long  lost  brother!  How  do  their 
ears  tingle  as  they  hear  him  say — "  I  am  Joseph  :  Doth 
my  father  yet  live  ?  " The  first  shock  is  almost  stun- 
ning :  they  can  not  answer  him,  for  they  are  troubled 
at  his  presence.  More  kind  words  and  the  kindest  pos- 
sible manner  are  now  in  place.  "  Joseph  said  to  his 
brethren,  Come  near  to  me,  I  pray  you ;  and  they  came 
near."  Again  he  says — "I  am  Joseph,  your  brother, 
whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt."  Then  with  a  turn  which 
evinces  the  exquisite  tenderness  of  his  heart,  he  begs 
them  "  not  to  be  grieved  nor  angry  with  themselves ; " 
but  to  think  rather  of  the  design  of  God  in  permitting 
and  providentially  shaping  this  Avonderful  series  of 
events.  "  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life. 
There  are  five  more  years  of  famine  yet  to  come;  God 
sent  me  before  you  to  preserve  you  a  posterity  in  the 
earth  and  to  save  your  lives  by  a  great  deliverance. 
So  now  it  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God." 
The  best  thing  he  could  say  under  just  those  circum- 
stances to  soothe  their  mind,  to  assure  them  of  his  full 
forgiveness  and  to  give  them  consolation  in  place  of  the 
agitation,  fear,  and  remorse  that  so  nearly  overwhelmed 
their  spirits. 

Arrangements  for  the  future  are  soon  made.     Joseph 


154  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

assures  them  that  the  best  of  Egypt's  land  shall  be 
given  them,  and  insists  that  they  hasten  home  and 
bring  their  aged  father  and  their  little  ones — every 
thing  they  have — down  to  Egypt,  because  five  more 
years  of  famine  are  to  follow.  Egyptian  wagons — un- 
known to  Jacob's  household — are  sent,  and  the  brethren 
are  hastened  off.  Were  they  not  a  happy  band  ?  The 
great  agony  of  fear  is  past;  the  surgings  of  anxiety  and 
solicitude  have  ceased;  the  pungent  convictions  of  that 
dread  crime  long  ago  against  their  younger  brother 
have  done  their  work,  and  wrought  out  "  the  peaceable 
fruits  of  righteousness."  This  is  a  wonderful  crisis  in 
their  life  history.  Let  us  hope  that  most  if  not  all  of 
them  found  God  through  these  fiery  trials  and  these 
penitent  tears! 

They  are  home  again.  The  first  thing  is  to  break 
this  strange  secret  to  their  father.  They  make  just  two 
points  :  "Joseph  yet  alive;  "  "Joseph  Governor  over  all 
the  land  of  Egypt."  It  was  too  much— was  too  good  to 
be  believed.  The  English  version  has  it,  "  Jacob's  heart 
fainted."  Better — "Jacob's  heart  remained  cold,  for  he 
believed  them  not."  It  stirred  no  joyous  and  warm 
emotions,  for  he  could  not  believe  it.  But  when  they 
told  him  all  the  words  of  Joseph,  and  especially  wdien 
be  saw  the  wagons  which  Joseph  had  sent  to  carry  him, 
then  his  spirit  rose ;  his  heart  waxed  warm ;  he  said : 
"It  is  enough;  Joseph  my  son  is  yet  alive;  I  will  go  and 
see  him  before  I  die." 

Beersheba,  the  old  home  of  his  father  Isaac,  lay  on 
his  route.  He  stopped  there  and  ofiered  sacrifice  to  the 
God  of  hrs  father  Isaac.  The  night  following  the  Lord 
met  him  in  vision,  saying,  "  I  am  thy  God  and  the  God 
of  thy  father ;  fear  not  to  go  down  into  Egypt,  for  I  will 
there  make  of  thee  a  great  nation  :  I  will  go  down  with 
thee  into  Egypt  and  will  bring  thee  up  again;  and  Jo- 
seph shall  put  his  hand  upon  thine  eyes" — i.  e.  to  close 

them  in  death. How  tenderly  appreciative  of  the 

circumstances  and  of  Jacob's  need  was  this  vision  of 
Beersheba!  Such  are  God's  blessed  ways  with  his 
children.  He  can  not  send  them  into  scenes  of  special 
danger  or  of  critical  interest,  without  some  sj^ecial  man- 
ifestations of  his  presence. 


god's  hand  in  this  history.  155 

II.  We  are  to  notice  the  hand  of  God  in  this  history 
in  its  twofold  bearings : 

1.  As  active  in  the  sufferings  and  moral  trial  of  the 
virtuous; 

2.  As  manifested  in  his  overruling  control  of  the 
wicked  to  bring  forth  from  their  wickedness  abounding 
good. 

1.  As  active  in  the  sufferings  and  moral  trial  of  the 
virtuous. — —The  most  cursory  reader  of  this  story  will 
see  in  it  a  striking  case  of  the  sufferings  of  innocence. 
Joseph,  envied  and  hated  for  no  fault  of  his;  coming 
near  to  being  murdered  by  his  own  brothers,  and  really 
sold  into  slavery — a  slavery  prospectively  life-long  and 
in  a  distant,  unknown  land;  torn  away  from  every 
thing  dear  in  home,  at  the  age  of  seventeen : — this 
surely  was  innocence  subjected  to  the  sternest  suf- 
fering. 

How  do  such  things  happen  under  the  government 
of  God?     When  they  do  happen,  what  do  they  prove? 

a.  Negatively:  They  prove  that  all  the  suffering  in 
this  world  can  not  be  retribution  for  sin.  There  may  be 
great  suffering  which  can  not  in  any  true  sense  be  the 
punishment  of  great  crime.  The  greatest  sufferers  are 
not  necessarily  and  always  the  greatest  sinners.  Suffer- 
ing   is  not    graduated   to  crime. This  lesson  Job's 

three  friends  were  slow  to  learn.  Even  Job  himself 
seems  not  to  have  learned  it  thoroughly,  but  was 
groping  toward  it,  under  the  lessons  of  his  own  con- 
scious experience.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  suggest 
here  that  Job  and  his  friends  reasoned  tvithout  the  light 
which  this  history  of  Joseph  would  have  given  them  if 
they  had  ever  heard  or  read  it.  They  either  lived  be- 
fore Joseph,  or  too  remote  from  these  scenes  to  hear  or  in 
any  way  learn  the  lessons  they  teach. 

h.  Positively  this  case  illustrates  some  of  the  ends 
wliich  God  aims  to  secure  by  permitting  the  sufferings 
of  the  good;  e.  g.  to  discipline  them  to  patience  under 
suffering,  and  to  trust  in  God  in  the  midst  of  darkness 
and  in  spite  of  it.  Joseph's  slavery  and  prison-life  in 
Egypt  would  have  been  simply  miserable  without  this 
patience  and  this  trust  in  the  Lord  his  God.  Suppose 
he  had  given  himself  up  to  fretting  and  chafing  and 
dashing  his  head  against  the  strong  walls  of  his  prison 
and  to  wrenching  off  the  fetters  with  Avliich  they  "hurt 


156  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

liis  feet "  (Ps.  105:  18)  ; — What  could  have  come  of  such 
adjustment  of  one's  self  to  dark  providences?  Cer- 
tainly not  the  sweet  and  blessed  discipline  which  he 
did  in  fcict  get  from  his  afflictions;  certainly  not  the 
favor  and  the  blessing  of  his  God.  Every  thing  in  the 
future  as  before  his  eye  was  dark  enough ;  but  he  knew 
there  was  a  God  of  loving  kindness  above — a  God  who 
made  no  mistakes,  yet  whose  purposes  were  often  too 
deep  for  afflicted  man  to  fathom,  and  therefore  a  God 
whom  his  children  should  learn  to  trust  as  certainly 
doing  all  things  well. 

Again ;  the  case  serves  to  reveal  God's  pity  and  his 
love  in  that  he  goes  with  his  children  into  their  slave- 
life  and  into  their  prison-life  with  such  smiles  of  favor, 
such  tokens  of  his  i^resence,  as  may  well  make  them 
joyful  in  the  most  terrible  affliction.  As  Paul  and 
Silas  prayed  and  sang  praises  within  the  cold,  desolate 
walls  of  a  prison  while  yet  smarting  under  the  Koman 
scourge,  and  with  perhaps  some  prospect  of  sufferings 
more  severe  when  another  day  should  dawn ;  so  Joseph 
found  the  Lord  with  him  when  he  reached  Egj^pt  a 
slave ;  Avith  him  when  cast  into  prison  because  he  vir- 
tuously repelled  a  foul  temptation  to  crime.  God  was 
there,  proving  to  his  servant  Joseph  that  no  surround- 
ings are  so  dark  that  God's  manifested  presence  will 
not  make  them  light — that  no  sufferings  and  no  be- 
reavements are  so  severe  that  God  can  not  throw  his 
smile  upon  the  sufferer  and  fill  his  soul  with  overflow- 
ing joy ! 

Yet  again ;  this  lesson  teaches  that  God  uses  means 
apparentl}^  rough  and  stern  to  prepare  his  servants  for 
higher  responsibilities  and  more  signal  blessings.  We 
can  not  say  what  Joseph  would  have  been  if  he  had  re- 
mained in  the  bosom  of  his  doting  father's  home 
through  all  those  years  from  seventeen  to  thirty,  in- 
stead of  being  in  God's  school  of  suffering  and  trial; 
but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  made  rapid  strides  forward 
in  this  school  of  God — in  his  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture; in  his  quick  and  manifest  sympathy  with  every 
one  in  trouble ;  in  his  skill  to  gain  the  confidence  of 
those  about  and  above  him;  in  his  capacity  for  busi- 
ness; and  not  least  in  his  living  piety  and  his  humble 
walk  with  God.  His  surroundings  threw  him  roughly 
upon  his  own  resources,  and  at  the  same  time  sweetly 


god's  hand  in  this  history.  157 

upon  God's  resources;  and  in  consequence  he  rose,  as 
few  men  have  even  been  fit  to  rise,  from  slave-life  and 
from  prison-life,  to  be  the  actuary  of  a  great  kingdom — 
the  almoner  of  bread  and  of  life  to  the  nations  of  the  then 
civilized  world;  and  also  to  become  one  of  the  most  ex- 
alted and  spotless  characters  of  all  history.  Are  not  the 
ways  of  God  truly  wonderful  ? 

The  ways  of  God  toward  Jacob  must  not  be  overlooked. 
We  need  not  debate  the  question  how  far  his  sufferings 
were  those  of  innocence,  and  how  far  he  was  criminally 
responsible  for  the  lack  of  moral  culture  and  the  power 
of  fearful  depravity  in  his  sons.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it 
was  hard  for  him  to  lose  Joseph — the  one  son  who  was 
a  comfort  to  his  heart  among  so  many  who  were  quite 
otherwise.  Even  after  thirteen  years  his  heart  seems 
still  to  be  sore  with  that  great  sorrow,  so  that  when  his 
ten  sons  say  that  Benjamin  must  go  with  them  to 
Egypt,  he  exclaims,  "All  these  things  are  against 
me  "  !  And  when  at  length  he  is  compelled  to  consent, 
his  words  indicate  that  he  bows  to  an  inexorable  fate 
rather  than  yields  in  sweet  trust  to  a  divine  hand  be- 
lieved to  be  wise  and  kind,  though  utterly  and  inex- 
plicably mysterious; — "If  I  am  bereaved  of  my  chil- 
dren, I  am  bereaved." 

Jacob  lived  to  see  the  clouds  of  darkness  lifted  and 
rolled  away.  He  lived  to  learn  that  all  those  things 
were  not  against  him  by  any  means,  but  were  in  fact 
shaped  of  God  to  save  his  great  household  alive 
through  a  seven  years'  famine  ;  and  (what  is  far  more 
than  even  this) — were  designed  of  God  for  the  salvation 
of  those  sons  of  his  whose  wickedness  had  brought  these 
sorrows  upon  him,  and  whom  God  had  faithfully  taken 
in  hand  to  bring  them  to  repentance.  Had  he  not 
learned  ere  this  that  it  was  always  safe  to  trust  in  his 
fathers  God?  Had  not  the  Lord  said  to  him,  "I  will 
surely  do  thee  good  "  ?  As  to  being  "  bereaved  of  his 
children,"  was  not  the  covenant  very  definite  :  "A  nation 
and  a  company  of  nations  shall  be  of  thee,  and  kings 

shall  come  out  of  thy  loins"?  (Gen.  35:  11). Tliis 

discipline  of  the  aged  patriarch  was  sharp  but  whole- 
some. He  might  have  said,  "In  faithfulness  hast  thou 
afflicted  me."  The  clouds  of  life's  stormy  day  cleared 
before  sunset.    It  would  be  pleasant  to  hear,  if  we  might, 


158  JACOB   AND  JOSEPH. 

the  experiences  of  his  closing  years  when  he  came  to 
understand  God's  ways  and  to  reap  the  blessed  fruits  of 
such  chastening  sorrows. 

These  methods  and  ends  of  God  in  the  discipline  and 
culture  of  his  people  reach  onward  into  eternity.  The 
faithful  here  are  the  rulers  there  (Mat.  25:  21),  Those 
who  take  God's  discipline  kindly  here  and  turn  it  to 
best  account  according  to  his  thought  and  will,  have 
their  reward  above.  It  is  not  needful  that  we  know  in 
their  details  what  the  heavenly  responsibilities  are,  and 
what  the  dignities  and  the  honors  of  those  who  have 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things  here ;  but  we  are  safe 
in  the  belief  that  earthly  discipline  and  culture  are  not 

lost  attainments  as  to  the  after  life. As  one  short  day 

transferred  Joseph  from  the  prison-house  of  the  kingdom 
to  the  lordship  of  that  kingdom,  so  one  day  is  long 
enough  for  the  transfer  of  many  a  humble,  suffering 
saint  of  God  from  dungeons  of  darkness  and  pain  to 
palaces  of  royalty  and  bliss.  In  the  story  of  Joseph 
these  great  truths  of  God's  administration  with  his  peo- 
ple were  breaking  forth  upon  the  minds  of  men  by 
most  interesting  stages  of  progress, 

2.  From  these  lessons  in  God's  ways  with  the  right- 
eous, we  turn  to  other  lessons  pertaining  to  his  imys 
with  the  wicked.  This  history  of  Joseph  shows  how  skill- 
fally  and  mightily  God  manages  the  wicked,  making 
their  wickedness  work  (wholly  against  their  purj^ose)  to 
evolve  abounding  good. 

We  have  seen  how  Joseph  directed  the  thought  of 
his  brethren  to  these  ways  and  designs  of  God.  "  Be 
not  angry  Avith  yourselves  that  ye  sold  me  hither;  for 
God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life."  "  So  now 
it  was  not  ye  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God"  (Gen.  45: 
5,  7,  8).  And  again  seventeen  years  later,  after  Jacob's 
death,  his  brethren  being  apprehensive,  lest  Joseph 
might  then  relapse  into  revenge,  he  said  to  them; 
"Fear  not,  for  am  I  in  the  place  of  God?  But  as  for 
you,  ye  thought  evil  against  me ;  but  God  meant  it  for 
good,  to  bring  to  pass  iis  it  is  this  day,  to  save  much 
people  alive  (Gen.  50 :  19,  20).  We  should  quite  un- 
dor-cstimate  Joseph's  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
his  sense  of  moral  distinctions  if  we  were  to  press  his 


con   OVERRULES   SIN    FOR   GOOD.  159 

words  to  mean  that  God's  agencies  in  those  crimes  su- 
perseded theirs  ;  lifted  off  tlieir  responsibilities  and  left 

them  essentially  faultless. The  reason  why  Joseph's 

remarks  took  this  turn  seems  to  have  been  this.  He 
saw  that  conviction  for  sin  had  done  its  vital  work  in 
their  souls;  that  they  were  apparently  penitent  and 
leaning  toward  the  most  severe  self-condemnation — at 
a  stage  where  it  was  both  safe  and  kind  to  turn  their 
attention  to  God's  hand  as  evolving  good  from  their  sin. 
In  so  far  as  we  can  have  confidence  in  Joseph's  judg- 
ment as  to  their  moral  state,  his  words  afford  proof  that 
his  brethren  were  truly  penitent,  and  at  a  stage  where 
consolation  might  properly  be  suggested  as  some  relief 
to  their  mental  anguish. 

The  use  which  God  made  of  the  sin  of  Joseph's  breth- 
ren exemplifies  his  consummate,  far-reaching  wisdom. 
He  knew  all  the  future.  He  saw  the  coming  famine ; 
knew  how  to  advance  Joseph  to  the  lordship  of  all 
Eg3^pt,  and  to  put  him  there  just  in  time  to  garner  up 
the  surplus  of  seven  years  of  overllowing  abundance, 
and  then  dispense  these  stores  of  corn  for  the  sustenance 
of  thousands  less  provident  tliroughout  all  Egypt  and 
all  adjacent  countries.  The  resources  of  God's  provi- 
dence, guided  by  such  wisdom,  are  simply  boundless. 

What  can  he  not  do  Avhen  he  wills  to  do  it  ? The 

case  is  equally  demonstrative  of  his  love.  Mark  how  he 
bends  the  great  powers  of  his  infinite  being  to  the  pro- 
duction of  good,  to  multiply  the  means  of  happiness. 
This  view  of  his  character  is  doubly,  yea  infinitely 
precious  when  studied  in  its  developments  in  a  world, 
or  rather  a  universe,  xuith  sin  in  it.  If  the  Lord  were 
obliged  to  say — I  must  content  myself  with  the  co-oper- 
ation of  the  good,  the  unfallen,  turning  their  agency  to 
best  account  for  the  promotion  of  happiness ;  but  as  to 
the  wicked,  they  are  beyond  my  reach  ;  I  can  do  noth- 
ing with  them  ;  the  evil  they  do  must  be  endured  as  so 
much  dead  loss  to  the  universe,  never  to  be  of  any  ser- 
vice toward  virtue  and  happiness  — the  case  would  be, 
so  far,  one  of  unrelieved  sadness.  We  may  bless  the 
name  of  our  G<:)d  that  his  resources  of  wisdom  and  power 
and  the  outgoings  of  his  love  are  not  thus  limited.  No 
indeed;  some  good  results  will  be  extorted  from  even 
those  horrible  crimes  of  Joseph's  brethren.  Even  tlie 
■Jjvirs  wickedness  in  which  he  exults  as  availing  to 


160  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

frustrate  God's  plans  and  to  shake  his  throne,  he  will 
find  at  length  to  his  everlasting  confusion  and  shame, 
has  been  made,  by  the  over-mastering  wisdom,  power, 
and  love  of  God,  to  subserve  the  very  cause  he  thought 
to  break  down,  and  to  break  down  every  thing  he  had 
vainly  hoped  to  build  up!  For  is  not  God  wiser  and 
mightier  than  the  devil?  The  final  result  of  the  con- 
flict will  prove  it. But  it  is  in  place  here  to  note  that 

this  story  of  Joseph's  brethren  and  of  God's  over-ruling 
hand  in  their  case  was  shedding  some  rays  of  light  on 
these  previously  dark  problems,  and  therefore  was  in- 
dicating progress  in  the  revelations  of  God  and  of  his 
ways  with  sinful  men. 

Nor  let  us  overlook  this  one  other  point — that  the 
case  evinces  the  consummate  skill  of  God  in  managing 
the  free  moral  activities  of  men  without  the  least  in- 
fringement upon  their  free  agency  and  moral  responsi- 
bility. We  see  this  in  the  way  they  went  into  their 
sin— purely  of  their  own  free  purpose — after  their  own 
envious  and  proud  heart,  although  God  had  purposes  to 
answer  by  means  of  this  very  sin.  We  see  it  still  more, 
if  possible,  in  the  means  he  used  to  bring  them  to  repent- 
ance; how  he  put  his  great  hook  into  their  jaws  and 
brought  them  down  to  Egypt;  took  the  pride  out  of 
them;  pressed  them  with  one  calamity  after  another 
till  they  came  to  feel  very  weak  before  Almighty  God ; 
aroused  their  long  slumbering  consciences  and  kept  their 
thought  upon  that  long  past,  almost  forgotten  crime 
against  Joseph — till  at  length  they  seem  to  have  become 
thoroughly  penitent.  Only  by  legitimate  means  and 
influences,  and  only  by  such  a  use  of  these  as  still  left 
their  moral  activities  under  their  own  responsible  con- 
trol— were  these  grand  results  reached. Thus  we  may 

take  lessons  in  the  masterly  skill  with  which  God's 
agencies  interwork  with  man's,  effective  to  the  result 
he  proposes  because  God  is  more  and  mightier  than 
man. 

III.  Taking  a  broader  range  of  view,  we  may  next 
ytudy  the  purposes  of  God  in  locating  the  birth  nf  the  He- 
brew nation  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Since  God's  purposes  never  come  to  nought  but  are 
always  accomplished  perfectly,  the  ends  he  has  in  view 
being  surely  secured,  it  is  safe  to  reason  backward  from 


ANCIENT    EGYPT    CONFIRMS   MOSES.  161 

known  results  to  original  purposes.  It  would  amount 
practically  to  the  same  thing  if  we  were  to  ask — What 
great  results  were  actually  secured  by  locating  his  peo- 
ple in  Egypt  when  and  as  he  did;  by  shaping  their 
history  as  he  did,  and  by  bringing  them  out  at  length 
with  his  high  hand  and  outstretched  arm? 

1.  In  answering  these  questions  we  may  note  that 
Egypt  in  that  age  stood  at  the  summit  of  the  world's 
civilization,  a  fully  organized  kingdom,  a  great  and 
highly  cultured  people.  There  is  most  ample  proof  that 
Egypt  was  then  eminent  above  any  other  nation  in  learn- 
ing, wisdom,  science,  and  art ;  in  jurisprudence,  and  in 
the  administration  of  law ;  in  industry  and  in  wealth ; 
in  short,  in  all  the  main  appliances  and  results  of  a 
high  civilization.  The  antiquities  of  Ancient  Egypt 
are  the  marvel  of  our  times.  Her  temples,  pyramids, 
and  obelisks;  her  paintings  and  works  of  art,  have  come 
down  to  our  age  in  most  wonderful  preservation,  living 
Avitnesses  to  her  ancient  greatness.  There  was  no  other 
kingdom  on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  a  man  like 
Moses  could  have  been  educated  and  trained  to  become 
the  law-giver  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  or  where  such  a 
system  of  civil  law  as  God  gave  his  peoi^le  by  the  hand 
of  Moses  could  have  taken  its  rise  and  could  have  been 
understood,  accepted,  appreciated,  and  ultimately 
wrought  into  established  usage  and  into  the  national 
life.  We  shall  have  occasion  in  its  place  to  inquire 
how  far  the  civil  system  given  through  Moses  was  bor- 
rowed from  the  Egyptian  Code,  and  consequently  how 
far  the  scenes  of  their  Egj-ptian  life  prepared  the  way 
for  the  new  national  life  instituted  in  the  wilderness. 

2.  The  plan  of  transferring  his  people  from  their 
nomadic,  pastoral  life  in  Canaan,  to  a  settled  residence 
in  Egypt  provided  scope  for  all  those  developments 
which  we  have  been  studying  in  the  history  of  Jacob, 
Joseph,  and  his  brethren. 

3.  Yet  more  and  greater  developments  of  God's 
mighty  hand  were  provided  for  in  the  deliverance  of 
his  people  from  their  bondage  in  Egypt;  in  his  judg- 
ments on  Pharaoh  and  his  land;  in  the  destruction  of 
his  hosts  in  the  Red  Sea;  in  the  wilderness  life  of  Israel 
during  forty  years ;  and  at  length  in  their  location  in 
the  land  of  promise.  All  these  points  will  come  under 
review  in  their  order. 


162  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 


IV.  Some  notice  should  be  taken  of  ancient  Egypt  as  af- 
fording confirmation  to  the  historic  accuracy  and  truthfulness 
of  Closes  in  Genesis. 

1.  Moses  assumes  that  Es^-pt  had  a  king  and  a  fully 
organized  government.  The  evidence  of  this  from 
Egyptian  history  and  antiquities  is  too  abundant  and 
accessible  to  need  citation. 

2.  Also  that  the  people  subsisted  mainly  by  agricul- 
ture, not  pasturage ;  that  their  soil  was  exceedingly 
fertile  and  the  country  one  of  great  Avealth.  The  facts 
on  these  points  also  are  beyond  question.  The  Nile 
has  always  made  Egypt  rich  in  soil  and  in  agricul- 
tural productions.  Its  periodical  inundations  have  sus- 
tained the  fertility  of  that  valley  for  thousands  of 
years.  Alternations  of  years  of  plenty  with  years  of 
famine  have  been  their  common  experience  in  all  ages, 
though  probably  never  so  extreme  and  protracted  as  in 
the  age  of  Josej^h. 

3.  The  history  by  Moses  records  the  fact  that  in  the 
early  stages  of  this  great  famine  the  lands  passed  over 
largely  to  the  crown,  but  were  leased  to  the  farmers 
for  a  certain  portion  (one-fifth)  of  the  crops  (Gen.  47 : 

20-26). Testimony  from  sources  other  than  sacred 

proves  these  points.  Herodotus  was  told  by  the  priests 
of  Egypt  that  the  king  gave  each  Eg3q3tian  laborer  a 
square  piece  of  land  of  equal  extent  and  collected  from 
each  a  yearly  rent.  Diodorus  states  that  all  the  land 
of  Egypt  belonged  either  to  the  king,  the  priests,  or  the 
military  caste.  Strabo  says  that  the  farmers  and  trades- 
men held  their  lands  subject  to  rent.  In  the  Egyptian 
sculptures  as  shown  by  Wilkinson,  only  kings,  priests, 
and  the  military  orders  are  represented  as  land-owners. 
[See  "  Hengstenberg  and  the  Books  of  Moses,"  pp. 
62-70.] 

4.  The  history  by  Moses  makes  an  important  excep- 
tion in  the  case  of  the  priests.  Being  supported  di- 
rectly from  the  royal  treasury,  they  were  not  obliged  to 
alienate  their  lands  during  the  great  famine  and  con- 
sequently continued  to  hold  them  (Gen.  47:  22). 
With  this  all  profane  testimony  concurs. 

5.  This  fact  implies  an  organized  priesthood  as  a  fa- 
vored and  therefore  powerful  class  in  Egyptian  so- 
ciety.    Egyptian  histor}^  confirms  this  and  shows  more- 


ANCIENT    EGYPT    CONFIRMS   MOSES.  163 

over  that  they  were  not  merely  priests,  performing  re- 
ligious functions,  but  were  the  learned  and  scientific 
men  of  the  nation;  had  charge  of  education;  held  in 
their  body  the  art  and  the  "  wisdom  "  of  the  nation  and 
performed  largely  the  administrative  functions  of  gov- 
ernment. "  The  thirty  judges  (says  Drumann)  priests 
of  Heliopolis,  Thebes,  and  Memphis,  were  maintained 
by  the  king,  and  without  doubt,  the  sons  of  the  priests 
also,  all  of  whom  over  twenty  years  of  age  were  given 
to  the  king  as  servants ;  or,  more  correctly,  to  take  the 
oversight  of  his  affairs."  "The  ministers  of  the  court 
were  in  Eg3'pt  the  priests,  just  as  the  state  was  a  The- 
ocracy, and  the  king  was  considered  as  the  representa- 
tive and  incarnation  of  the  Godhead."      (Hengstenberg, 

p.  68). It  was  by  virtue  of  this  usage  that  Joseph 

married  into  the  class  of  the  priesthood,  Asenath  his 
wife  being  a  daughter  of  Potipherah  priest  of  On  (Gen. 

41 :  50). The  reader  will  perhaps  recall  the  striking 

analogy  between  the  Egyptian  S3"stem  and  the  Hebrew 
Theocracy,  particularly  in  the  point  that  the  ministers 
of  religion  were  also  ministers  of  civil  laAV  and  promi- 
nent in  its  administration.  The  judges  in  the  civil 
courts  Avere  taken  chiefly  from  the  tribe  of  Levi. 

6.  Joseph's  arraignment  of  his  brethren — "  Ye  are 
spies ;  to  see  the  nakedness  of  the  land  are  ye  come  " — 
suggests  an  inquiry  into  the  relations  of  Egypt  to  for- 
eign powers.  The  susi^icions  of  Joseph  obviously  as- 
sume a  consciousness  of  great  liability  to  foreign  in- 
vasion. Such  was  the  fact ;  and  the  reasons  for  it  will 
readily  appear.  We  have  only  to  think  of  the  power- 
ful tribes  scattered  over  vast  Arabia,  the  Hittites  and 
other  tribes  of  Canaan  and  of  the  regions  North 
and  East — all  stalwart  men,  all  poor  and  subsisting  on 
precarious  supplies,  jj'et  possessed  of  fleet  animals — 
horses,  dromedaries,  camels— with  which  they  were 
able  to  move  masses  of  men  with  great  celerity.  Let 
such  men  see  the  tempting  bait  of  corn  in  plenty  in 
Egypt,  and  the  marvel  is  how  Egypt  could  protect  her- 
self against  sudden  and  formidable  invasion.  The 
monuments  of  her  early  history  testify  to  her  long  and 
bloody  wars  with  the  Ilittites  and  other  tribes  of  West- 
ern Asia,  often  carrying  the  war  into  their  country  as 
a  wiser  policy  no  doubt  than  to  stand  behind  her  own 
walls  on  the  defensive.     Sufiice  it  to  sav  here   that 


161  JACOB   AND   JOSEPH. 

when  those  Asiatic  countries  were  famishing  for  bread 
and  it  was  Avell  known  there  was  corn  enough  in 
Egypt,  the  suspicion  expressed  by  Joseph  that  those 
ten  men  were  spies  was  not  only  natural  but  perhaps 
even  a  necessary  measure  of  policy  to  satisfy  the 
Egyptians.  They  must  naturally  apprehend  danger 
though  he  might  personally  know  that  these  men  were 
harmless. 

7.  Sacred  history  drops  this  incidental  remark — 
"  For  every  shepherd  is  an  abomination  to  the  Egyp- 
tians "  (Gen.  46 :  34).  To  some  extent  this  feeling  was 
a  natural  outgrowth  of  their  relations  to  the  nomadic 
tribes  of  South-western  Asia — to  which  we  have  re- 
cently referred.  But  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose 
among  them  a  certain  special  antipathy  against  the 
sheep,  more  intense  than  against  any  other  domestic 
animal  unless  swine  be  an  exception.  Tliey  had  so 
much  respect  for  the  cow  that  they  made  her  and  her' 
species  objects  of  worship.  Although  tlioy  attained 
great  skill  in  the  manufacture  of  linen,  cotton,  and  silk, 
I  meet  with  no  allusion  to  wool.  Woolen  cloths  are 
never  found  upon  Egyptian  mummies;  linen  and  cot- 
ton were  used. Some  writers   have   supposed   that 

shepherds  were  held  in  special  abhorrence  because  their 
country  had  been  conquered  and  ruled  by  a  dynasty  of 
shepherd  kings  from  the  North-east;  but  the  precise 
date  of  their  invasion  and  of  their  rule  over  Egypt  is 
very  much  in  doubt. 

8.  Both  Joseph  and  his  father  were  embalmed  after 
death  (Gen.  50:  2,  3,  26) — a  service  performed  by  the 
physicians.  The  antiquities  of  Egypt  furnish  most 
conclusive  testimony  to  their  skill  in  this  art — a  skill 
far  surpassing  that  of  any  other  people  known  to  his- 
tory. Great  numbers  of  those  embalmed  bodies  ("  mum- 
mies ")  have  been  found  in  Egyptian  tombs  within  the 
present  century,  in  perfect  preservation.  On  tliis 
point,  the  coincidences  between  sacred  and  profane  his- 
tory are  striking. The  practice   w^as  very  ancient, 

some  mummies  bearing  the  date  of  the  oldest  kings.  It 
was  performed  by  a  special  class  of  physicians.  In 
harinony  with  Moses,  Herodotus  and  Diodorus  state 
that  the  embalming  process  occupied  forty  days;  the 
entire  period  of  mourning  seventy.  Classic  authorities 
give   accounts    similar   to  those   in   Gen.  50  of   great 


ANCIENT    EGYrT   CONFIRMS   MOSES.  165 

mourning  for  the  dead.  The  monuments  contain  rep- 
resentations to  the  same  effect.  Funeral  trains,  pro- 
cessions, of  such  sort  as  Gen.  50  records,  are  represented 
abundantly  in  the  oldest  tombs  at  Elithias,  also  at 
Sagguarah,  at  Gizeh,  and  at  Thebes.     (Hengstenberg's 

Eg3'pt   and   Moses,    pp.    70-78). A    coincidence    so 

minute  as  this  is  noticed;  tliat  mourners  forbore  to 
shave  their  hair  or  beard ;  but  none  might  appear  be- 
for  the  king  unshorn.  Consequently  we  observe  that 
in  the  mourning  scene  of  Gen.  50,  Joseph  does  not  come 
l)cfore  the  king  in  person  but  "sj^ake  unto  the  house  of 
Pharaoh  "  requesting  them  to  speak  in  his  behalf  to  the 
king  (Gen.  50 :  4-6). 

Quite  in  contrast  with  the  usual  oriental  custom, 
women  were  exempt  from  seclusion  and  moved  in  society 
with  apparently  entire  freedom.  This  appears  in  the 
family  of  Potiphar.  The  ancient  sculptures  and  paint- 
ings found  in  their  tombs  give  a  very  full  view  of  the 
domestic  life  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  no  point  of  which 
is  more  striking  than  the-  high  social  position  of  woman 
and  the  entire  absence  of  the  harem  system  of  seclusion. 
"  The  wife  is  called  the  lady  of  the  house."  (See  Smith's 
Bible  Dictionary,  p.  677).  According  to  the  monuments 
the  women  in  Egypt  lived  under  far  less  restraint  than 
in  the  East,  or  even  in  Greece.  Will^inson's  Egypt  is 
full  of  testimony  to  this  point  (Vol.  II,  p.  389).  Heng- 
stenberg's Moses,  p.  24. 

Sad  to  say  there  is  abundant  evidence  from  profane 
sources  of  a  very  lax  morality  among  married  women — 
of  which  the  history  of  Joseph  in  Potiphar's  house  is  an 
illustration.  Herodotus  gives  a  fact  in  point :  "  The 
wife  of  one  of  the  earliest  kings  was  untrue  to  him.  It 
was  a  long  time  before  a  woman  could  be  found  who 
was  faithful  to  her  husband.  When  at  last  one  was 
found,  the  king  took  her  without  hesitation  for  his 
wife." 

Yet  other  points  might  he  adduced  of  coincidence 
between  the  sacred  and  the  profane  records  of  Egypt  as 
the  former  appear  in  Moses.  The  above  may  be  taken 
as  specimens.  Most  amply  do  they  testify  that  tlie 
author  of  Genesis  was  entirely  familiar  with  Egyptian 
life  and  manners.  The  sharpest  and  most  unfriendly 
criticism  has  hitherto  detected  no  point  of  discrepancy 
between  these  respective  records — no  point  in  which  it 


166  SPECIAL   PASSAGES. 

can  be  made  to  appear  that  Moses  wrote  without  well 
understanding  the  Egyptian  life  of  which  he  speaks. 

The  corresponding  coincidences  in  Exodus  will  be 

suggested  in  their  jDlace. 

Some  special  passages  occurring  in  these  latter  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  should  receive  attention. 

Jacob  going  down  into  Sheol  to  Ms  son  Joseph. 

In  Gen.  37  :  35  Jacob,  supposing  Joseph  to  be  dead, 
says — "  I  will  go  down  into  the  grave  (Sheol)  to  my  son 
mourning."  The  reader  of  the  Hebrew  text  of  Genesis 
has  not  met  with  this  word  before,  and  may  reasonably 
expect  to  see  its  meaning  discussed  here. 

In  the  outset  it  should  be  observed  that  these  words 
can  not  possibly  mean — My  dead  body  shall  go  down 
into  the  grave  proper,  the  sepulcher— there  to  lie  by 
the  side  of  Joseph's  dead  body.  He  could  not  have 
meant  this  because  the  place  of  Joseph's  supposed  dead 
body  Avas  entirely  unknown  to  him.  He  had  seen  his 
bloody  coat  and  inferred  that  Joseph  was  no  doubt  torn 
in  pieces;  where,  he  knew  not;  and  whether  devoured 
by  flesh-eating  animals  he  could  not  know.     We  must 

therefore    reject    this   construction   of  his    words. 

Plainly  the  Joseph  he  thought  of  was  the  undying  soul. 
He  expected  at  his  own  death  to  meet  Joseph  in  that 
state  or  place  which  the  Hebrews  indicated  by  the  word 
"  Sheol."  ^ 

What  is  the  primary  significance  of  this  word  ? 
What  were  the  views  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  in  regard 
to  its  location  and  the  state  of  its  occupants? 

The  noun  "  Sheol "  is  made  from  the  verb  Shaal  * 
having  tlie  sense,  to  ask,  to  demand;  and  conceives  of 
the  place  as  evermore  demanding,  insatiable;  that 
which  is  never  full ;  never  has  enough.  The  current 
Hebrew  conceptions  of  the  word  ma}'-  be  seen  in  Prov. 
30 :  15,  16,  and  Isa.  5  :  14,  and  Hab.  2:5.  "  There  are 
three  things  that  are  never  satisfied;  yea  four  say  not, 

It  is  enough  :  the  grave  "   [Sheol],  etc. "  Therefore 

hell  [Sheol]  hath  enlarged  herself  and  opened  her  mouth 
without  measure ;  and  their  glory,  and  their  multitude 
and  their  pomp,   and  he  that  rejoiceth  shall  descend 


GOING    DOWN    TO   SHEOL.  167 

into  it."  "  Who  enlargeth  his  desire  as  hell  "  [Sheol] 
and  is  as  Death,  and  can  not  be  satisfied,"  etc. 

As  to  the  location  of  Sheol  it  seems  clear  that  they 
thought  of  it  as  an  under-world,  as  somehow  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  We  see  this  in  the  case  of 
Korah  and  his  company  (Num.  16:  28-34),  of  Avhom 
Moses  said : — "  If  the  earth  open  her  mouth  and  swal- 
low them  up  with  all  that  appertain  to  them,  and  they 
go  down  alive  into  Sheol  [Eng.  "  the  pit "],  then  shall 
ye  understand  that  these  men  have  provoked  the 
Lord  "  .  .  .  .  "As  he  had  made  an  end  of  speaking  these 
words,  the  ground  clave  asunder  that  was  under  them 
and  the  earth  opened  her  mouth  and  swallowed  them 

up,"   etc. We  find  the  same  view  in  Deut.  32 :  22. 

"For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  ajiger  and  shall  burn  unto 
the  lowest  hell  [Sheol],  and  shall  consume  the  earth 
Avith  her  increase  and  set  on  fire  the  foundations  of  the 
mountains." 

In  regard  to  their  conceptions  of  Sheol  as  a  state  of 
being  for  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  dead,  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  holy  men  of  the  oldest  time  lacked  the  clear 
light  of  the  gospel  age.  Then  it  had  not  yet  been 
said — "  In  my  father's  house  are  many  mansions  " ;  "I 
go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  and  I  will  come  again  and 
receive  you  to  myself  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be 
also  (Jno.  14 :  2,  3),  They  had  not  heard  these  words 
of  Jesus — "  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise  " 
(Luke  23  :  43) ;  nor  those  of  Paul :  "  Having  a  desire  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ  which  is  far  better  "  (Ehil. 

1 :  23). But  the  patriarchs  did  expect  to  "be  gathered 

to  their  people  " — the  good  men  who  had  gone  on  before. 
This  is  said  of  Abraham  (Gen.  25  :  8) ;  of  Ishmael  (25 : 
17)  ;  of  Isaac  (35  :  29)  ;  and  of  .Jacob  (49  :  29,  33).  David 
said  of  his  deceased  infant  child  :  "  I  shall  go  to  him, 
but  he  shall  not  return  to  me."  Job  said  of  that  little 
known  world — "  There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling, 
and  there  the  weary  are  at  rest "  (Job  3  :  17),  and  yet  ho 
sometimes  thought  of  it  as  intensely  dark,  for  gospel 
light  had  not  then  fallen  upon  it : — "  JJefore  I  go  whence 
I  shall  not  return,  even  to  a  land  of  darkness  and 
the  shadow  of  death;  a  land  of  darkness  as  darkness 
itself ;  and  of  the  shadow  of  death  without  any  order, 
and  where  the  light  is  as  darkness  "  (Job  10 :  21,  22). 
Conceptions  of  this  state  as  well  illustrating  the  fall 


168  SPECIAL   PASSAGES. 

and  doom  of  wicked  kings  and  kingdoms,  tinged,  it 
would  seem,  with  the  spirit  of  poetrv,  may  be  seen  in 
Isaiah  14,  and  Ezek.  31 :  15-18. 

How  far  these  notions  as  to  the  locality  of  Sheol  are 
to  be  ascribed  to  direct  inspiration,  and  how  far  to  a 
merely  human  speculation,  following  the  leading 
thought  that  the  body  goes  down  and  back  to  dust  at 
death,  it  seems  by  no  means  easy  to  determine  posi- 
tively. Vie  may  be  allowed  to  doubt  whether  the  Lord 
intended  to  reveal  definitely  the  location  of  human  souls 
after  death.  It  was  a  point  of  the  least  conceivable  im- 
portance ;  and  moreover  our  knowledge  of  celestial  ge- 
ography may  be  yet  quite  too  limited  to  admit  of  any 
intelligible  revelation  on  this  point. 

Jacob's  benedictions  upon  his  sons  on  his  death-bed — more 
or  less  prophetic — present  some  points  that  call  for  spec- 
ial notice.  Remarkably  they  seem  in  most  if  not  in  all 
cases  to  start  from  the  then  existing  present,  and  to 
build  their  allusions  to  the  future  upon  it.  We  see  it 
in  the  case  of  Reuben — noted  for  his  outrage  of  his  fath- 
er's nuptial  bed;  of  Simeon  and  Levi,  whose  history 
suggested  their  cruelty  toward  the  men  of  Shechem  ;  of 
Judah,  whose  name  bore  the  thought  oi i^raise  and  whose 
record  in  the  case  of  Joseph  jmt  him  at  once  in  the  front 
among  his  brethren;  of  Joseph,  whose  relations  to  his 
father  and  indeed  to  all  the  family  had  been  surpass- 
ingly precious.  The  special  address  of  Jacob  to  each  of 
these  was  closely  linked  to  their  past  history.  The 
prophetic  feature  in  all  these  cases  seems  to  have  been 
suggested  by  these  salient  points  of  their  histor}^  Reu- 
ben as  the  first-born  might  have  kept  his  supremacy — 
if  he  had  been  worthy  of  it — but  he  was  not.  Simeon 
never  rose  to  any  distinction,  and  scarcely  held  any 
well-defined  territory  in  Canaan.  Levi  came  into  prom- 
inence as  the  ancestor  of  Aaron  and  of  Moses,  and  re- 
deemed himself  also  by  the  religious  zeal  and  energy 
of  Phineas  in  a  great  emergency  during  the  wilderness 
life  (Num.  26  :  6-13).  The  tribe  were  scattered  in  Is- 
rael, yet  not  in  the  bad  sense.  Judah  and  Joseph  had 
each  a  future  more  resplendent  and  distinguished  than 
any  othei  of  the  twelve — tlieir  prominence  in  Jacob's 
benediction  being  fully  carried  out  through  the  history 
of  their  nation. 


THE   SCEPTER   OF    JUDAH  ;   SHILOH.  169 

Some  special  passages  and  phrases  should  be  briefly 
explained. 

In  V.  4,  the  phrase,  "  Unstable  as  water,"  does  not 
compare  water  to  the  solid  earth  or  to  more  solid  rock 
as  treacherous  to  the  foot  and  unsafe  to  stand  on ;  but 
rather  as  bubbling,  effervescing  under  heat  or  applied 
force — as  therefore  a  fit  image  of  ungoverned  passion  ; 
of  wantonness,  impatient  of  restraint.  Reuben  had  no 
moral  stamina,  and  therefore  could  not  hold  his  natural 
place  of  headship  as  the  first-lx)rn — a  moral  lesson 
worthy  of  thoughtful  consideration.  A  young  man 
given  to  licentious  indulgence  can  have  no  solid  bot- 
tom to  his  character.  The  sagacious  will  never  trust 
him. 

v.  5.  "Simeon  and  Levi  are  brethren" — of  kindred 
spirit ;  "  instruments  of  cruelty  are  in  their  habita- 
tion " ;  better,  instruments  of  cruelty  their  swords  are. 
Most  solemnly  does  the  dying  patriarch  disavoAV  all 

sympathy  with  their  cruelty ! The  phrase — "  Mine 

honor  "  in  the  sense  of  myself — my  nobler  powers — is 
specially  significant  here,  for  their  spirit  was  dishonor- 
able, treacherous,  basely  cruel.  Jacob  had  a  sense  of 
honor  which  utterly  forbade  all  sympathy  with  them 

in  this  thing. In  the  last  clause  of  v.  6,  the  English 

margin  gives  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew :  "  They 
houghed  oxen."  They  slew  not  one  man  only  but 
man  as  a  species ;  and  cut  the  hamstrings  of  their 
cattle. 

The  benediction  upon  Judah  (v.  10)  stands  unrivaled  in 
importance  and  is  not  without  difiiculty.  The  main 
question  is  whether  the  word  "  Shiloh "  signifies  the 
]\Iessiah,  in  the  special  sense  of  the  Peace-giving  One ; 
or  refers  to  the  city  of  that  name  in  Canaan.  If  it  re- 
fers to  the  Messiah,  the  sense,  the  application  and  the 
fulfillment  of  the  passage  are  facile  and  truly  rich — 
thus  :  Judah  shall  head  the  tribes  and  give  them  kings 
until  the  Great  Messiah  shall  come :  then  all  the  na- 
tions (Gentile  and  Jew)  shall  obey  him — obedience 
rather  than  "  gathering  "  being  the  best  established 
sense  of  the  word.  It  occurs  elsewhere  only  in  Prov. 
30:  17. 

No  facts  of  Jewish  history  are  better  known  than 
these— that  Judah  led  the  march  through  the  Avilder- 


170  THE   SCEPTER   OF    JUDAH;   SHILOH. 

ness,  and  that  from  David  to  Christ  the  scepter  was  in 
Judah — until  the  Messiah  came,  when  it  dropped  from 
his  hand.  "We  have  a  law,"  (said  the  Jewish 
Sanhedrim  in  the  age  of  Christ)  "  and  by  our  law  he 
ought  to  die" — i.  e.  for  blasphemy.  But  under  their 
law,  capital  punishment  was  by  stoning  (Lev.  24:  15, 
16,  and  Mat.  26 :  65,  m,  and  Jno.  19  :  7).  Having  lost  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  criminals,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  take  the  case  to  the  Roman  authorities. 
Their  mode  of  capital  punishment  was  crucifixion. 
Thus  the  "  cross  "  stands  through  all  the  ages  to  prove 
that  the  sceptei*  had  departed  from  Judah  and  that  the 

Messiah  had  come. But  he  came  not  only  to  die  but 

to  reign,  and  the  nations  of  the  wide  earth  are  to  bow 

to   his    scepter. Such    is   the   construction   of   this 

passage,  provided  the  term  "  Shiloh "  refers  to  the 
Messiah. 

That  it  does  refer  to  him  may  be  argued  on  two 
grounds  : 

(a.)  This  construction  is  facile,  natural,  and  sup- 
ported by  analogous  prophecies ; 

(b.)  The  other  which  makes  Shiloh  the  name  of  a 
town  in  Canaan,  labors  under  serious,  not  to  say  insur- 
mountable difficulties. 

(a.)  "  Shiloh "  is  derived  readily  from  the  verb 
Shalah,*  kindred  with  Shalam,  both  words  being  in 
frequent  use  in  the  sense  of  being  at  peace  and  in  rest; 
expressing  good  wishes  for  peace — i.  e.  for  all  pros- 
perity— the  noun  from  which  might  naturally  mean 
the  author  of  peace,  as  we  see  in  Mic.  5 :  4.  Further- 
more, this  distinctive  feature  of  the  Messiah's  char- 
acter and  mission  is  the  theme  of  Ps.  72  and  of  many 
passages  in  Isaiah,  e.  g.  9 :  6,  7,  and  11 :  1-10,  and  60 :  18- 
22.  These  prophecies  naturally  follow  the  lead  of  this 
and  therefore  sustain  the  construction  here  given  it. 

Moreover,  it  is  natural  and  highly  probable  that 
Jacob  whose  twelve  sons  were  to  found  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel  and  who  knew  that  the  Messiah  was  to 
come  in  the  line  of  some  one  of  his  sons,  should  indicate 
which.  Noah  had  designated  Shem :  God  had  desig- 
nated Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  now  the  choice  is  nat- 
urally made  out  of  these  twelve.  That  the  long  prom- 
ised Seed  was  in  Jacob's  thought  is  forcibly  and  beauti-' 


THE    LESS    READABLE    CHAPTERS   OF   GENESIS.        171 

fully  suggested  in  the  midst  of  these  dying  benedic- 
tions by  the  words — "  I  have  waited  for  thy  salvation, 
0  Lord"  (49 :  18).  In  the  sustaining  hope  of  a  coming 
Savior  he  had  waited  and  trusted  through  many  long 
years ;  for  these  words  express  the  precious  experiences 
of  a  life.  As  Jesus  himself  testified  of  Abraham,  "  He 
rejoiced -to  see  my  day,"  hailing  it  joyously  from  afar, 
so  Jacob  witnesses  of  himself,  "  I  have  waited  for  thy 
salvation,  0  Lord." 

(b.)  Those  who  give  "  Shiloh  "  here  the  geograjjhical 
sense  argue  that  in  every  other  case  of  its  use  in 
scripture,  it  refers  to  the  town  of  that  name.  This 
name  for  a  town  appears  first  in  Josh.  18  :  1,  8,  10,  and 
often  subsequently  in  Judges,  1  Sam.,  etc.  But  there  is 
no  evidence  that  in  Jacob's  day  it  had  come  into  use  in 
geography.  This  usage,  so  far  as  appears,  was  long 
subsequent.  Nothing  forbids,  therefore,  that  Jacob 
should  use  it  simply  for  its  significance — the  Peace-giv- 
ing One. 

Again,  the  most  marked  supremacy  of  Judah  began 
after  the  nation  had  reached  Shiloh.  It  is  therefore 
bad  history  and  very  inept  prophecy  to  I'epresent  Judah 
as  holding  the  scepter  until  the  nation  came  to  Shiloh; 
the  fjict  being  that  he  had  not  held  it  in  the  full  sense 
previously  to  reaching  Shiloh,  but  did  hold  it  for  many 
centuries  after  Shiloh  had  lost  its  pre-eminence  as  the 
religious  capital.  I  see  therefore  no  good  ground  for 
setting  aside  the  Messianic  interpretation  of  this  pass- 
age. The  argument  in  its  defense  is  ably  and  fully 
drawn  out  by  Keil  in  his  Commentary,  and  yet  more 
fully  by  Hengstenberg  in  his  Christology,  vol.  1.  pp. 
50-63. 

The  less  readable  iwrtions  of  Genesis. 

We  have  passed  several  portions  of  Genesis  with  little 
or  no  notice ;  e.  g.  the  genealogical  tables,  and  some  of 
the  less  important  sketches  of  family  and  tribal  his- 
tory; e.  g.  that  of  Abraham's  sons  by  "Keturah  ;  of  Ish- 
mael,  Esau,  Laban,  etc. 

Of  these  less  readable  passages,  let  it  be  noted  ; 

1.  They  are  such  as  never  could  find  place  in  a  tale 
of  fiction,  gotten  up  in  some  later  age  to  interest  and 
amuse  the  reader.     The  fact  that  nnbodv  finds  interest 


172       THE   LESS   READABLE    CHAPTERS   OF   GENESIS. 

and  amusement  in  reading  them  now  proves  conclu- 
sively that  no  writer  of  fiction  could  possibly  have  con- 
cocted such  chapters  from  his  own  fancy  and  have 
foisted  them  into  a  professedly  ancient  history.  The 
men  who  forge  books  of  fiction  to  pass  them  off  as 
truthful  history  are  careful  not  to  put  in  unreadable 
chapters — void  of  rational  or  even  imaginative  interest 
to  the  men  of  after  ages. 

2.  Consequently  these  passages  are  incontrovertible 
proof  of  the  genuineness  and  real  antiquity  of  these 
writings.  In  their  time  they  had  interest — ^just  that 
interest  which  attaches  to  sober  truth :  none  more  or 
other  than  this. 

3.  The  Scriptures  were  written  with  special  adapta- 
tion to  their  first  readers,  and  must  include  therefore 
those  matters  which  had  real  value  and  interest  to 
them,  whether  they  would  continue  to  have  interest  and 
value  many  thousand  years  onward  or  not.  This 
fact,  often  overlooked,  has  many  important  bearings. 

4.  By  far  the  greater  portion  of  these  historic  books 
has  a  permanent  interest  and  value  to  us  and  will  have  to 
their  readers  through  all  future  ages.  We  see  in  these 
ancient  books  not  only  the  earliest  developments  of 
human  nature  in  the  primitive  society  of  the  race,  but 
also  the  earliest  manifestations  of  God  to  men,  and  can 
trace  their  progressive  unfoldings  step  by  step  age 
after  age  by  new  methods  and  with  clearer  light  as  we 
move  on  toward  the  great  era  when  God  became  mani- 
fest in  human  flesh. 

5.  It  may  well  reconcile  us  to  the  annoyance  (if 
such  it  be)  of  some  unreadable  portions  that  precisely 
these  above  all  others  afford  us  the  strongest  evidence 
of  the  genuineness  and  high  antiquity  of  these  entire 
books.  Tliey  constitute  an  internal  mark  of  antiquity 
and  genuineness  which  by  the  laws  of  human  nature 
never  could  be  counterfeited.  The  man  who  should 
attempt  to  counterfeit  such  proofs  that  his  fiction  is 
true  history  would  not  prove  himself  very  sharp  save 
in  the  skill  of  spoiling  his  book  and  frustrating  the 
only  conceivable  object  of  a  fiction — for  the  sake  of  what  ? 

We  lay  down  Genesis,  profoundly  impressed  tbat 
this  oldest  volume  of  human  history  is  unsurpassed 
in  simplicity  and  beaut}^,  and  wonderfully  rich  in 
its  revelations  both  of  man  and  of  his  Maker. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


EXODUS. 

This  second  book  of  the  Pentateuch  takes  its  modern 
name  from  its  principal  event,  tlie  exodus  of  the  He- 
brew people — their  marching^  forth  out  of  their  house 
of  bondage  from  the  land  of  their  oppression,  to  be  re- 
planted under  God's  gracious  providence  in  the  goodly 
land  promised  to  their  fathers.^ — This  one  main  event 
as  recorded  in  this  book  includes  many  subordinate 
points,  c.  g. 

I.  The  ojijvessions  of  the  Hebrews  by  the  Egyptians. 

II.  Moses,  who  became  in  the  hand  of  God  their  great 
Deliverer;  his  history;  his  early  training  and  his  call 
from  the  Lord  to  this  great  work. 

III.  The  great  mission  of  Moses  to  Egypfs  hlng ;  his  re- 
ception; the  ten  successive  plagues — miraculous  judg- 
ments from  the  hand  of  God ;  the  case  of  the  magicians; 
the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart,  and  the  ultimate  result. 

I.   The  Oppression. 

The  narrative  shows  that  this  oppression  consisted  in 
part  in  the  exacting  of  terribly  severe  labors,  especially 
in  building,  including  the  making  of  brick,  the  prepa- 
ration of  mortar,  the  transportation  of  these  materials, 
and  the  erection  of  buildings.  The  ancient  monuments  of 
Egypt  confirm  the  statements  of  sacred  history,  showing 
that  the  Egyptians  employed  national  bondmen  in  the 
construction  of  their  vast  national  works;  that  they 
placed  over  them  task-masters;  that  when  the  work- 
men fell  short  of  the  required  tale  of  brick,  their  mas- 
ters put  them  to  more  severe  labors,  and  in  some  cases 
to  hibors  of  other  sort.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some 
that  the  ancient  paintings  represented  some  of  these 
laborers  with  the  well-known  pln'siognomy  of  the  He- 
brews. 

It  should  be  noted  that  this  bondage  differed  from  the 
slavery  of  modern  times  in  this  one  respect — tliat  the 
bondmen  were  held  by  the  king  and  the  nation  in  their 
national  capacity  and  not  by  individuals.     The  He- 

(173) 


174  EXODUS. 

brews  were  not  held  as  private  but  as  public  property. 
The  king  and  the  nation  as  such  bore  therefore  the  re- 
sponsibility and  guilt  of  this  oppression,  and  God  let 
his  judgments  smite  them  for  the  most  part  in  such  a 
way  as  to  indicate  their  sin. 

A  second  feature  in  this  oppression  was  the  king's 
cruel  edict  to  murder  the  male  infants.  This  was  first 
enjoined  upon  the  Hebrew  midwives.  Fearing  God 
more  than  Egypt's  king,  they  evaded  obedience ;  where- 
ujjon  the  king  commanded  all  his  people  to  cast  the 

male  infants  into  the  river. The  reason  assigned  for 

both  these  measures  was  jmblic  policy,  to  prevent  the 
rapid  increase  of  Hebrpw  population  wdiich  the  king 
assumed  might  be  dangerous  to  his  throne  and  people 
in  case  of  a  foreign  invasion.  Such  a  policy  is  at  once 
short-sighted  and  wicked ;  short-sighted,  since  kind 
treatment  would  have  made  this  rapidly  growing  peo- 
ple their  fast  friends  and  helpers;  wicked,  because  it 
violates  common  morality,  insulting  God,  and  provoking 
his  wrath  by  outraging  all  the  obligations  which  he  im- 
poses on  men  toward  their  fellows.  Egypt's  king  and 
court  presently  found  themselves  arrayed  against  Al- 
mighty God  and  saAv  him  take  up  the  challenge  in  a 
fearful  conflict  for  mastery.  We  shall  see  in  the  final 
issue  that  the  Lord  improved  this  occasion  to  illustrate 
some  of  the  noblest  principles  of  his  government  over 
nations  and  indeed  over  individuals  as  well,  showing 
that  he  abhors  oppression  ;  takes  the  side  of  the  op- 
pressed; hurls  his  fiercest  thunderbolts  against  giant 
oppressors  in  every  age;  and  every-where  holds  men  to 
the  responsibility  of  using  their  power  to  befriend  and 
not  to  oppress  their  human  brethren. 

This  oppression  began  with  "a  new  king  over  Egypt 
Avho  knew  not  Josej)h."  It  is  generally  held  that  these 
words  indicate  a  new  dynasty — one  royal  line  super- 
seded by  another,  perhaps  a  foreign  power  coming  in  to 
supplant  the  former  dynasty.  The  points  of  historic 
contact  between  Egyptian  and  Hebrew  chronology  may 
at  some  future  day  be  adjusted  with  reasonable  certainty. 
They  are  not  yet.  The  subject  is  undergoing  a  some- 
what thorough  investigation  with  some  prospect  of  ul- 
timate success.  At  present  I  am  not  prepared  to 
express  positive  opinions. 


THE    OPPRESSION.  175 

Two  of  tlic  disputed  periods  in  Hebrew  clironology 
are  necessarily  involved; 

(a.)  The  period  of  the  Judges,  which  as  shown  above 
some  reduce  to  339  years  ;  others  extend  to  450; 

(b.)  The  period  of  the  sojourn  in  Egypt,  made  by 
some  215  years ;  by  others,  430.  Some  of  the  theories 
which  attempt  to  locate  this  new  king  of  Egypt  in  his 
relation  to  Hebrew  history  place  the  Exodus  about  B.  C. 
1600;  others  B.  C.  1491.  Some  put  the  commencement 
of  the  sojourn  in  Egypt  B.  C.  2030;  others  B.  C.  1706; 
yet  others  B.  C.  1815.  I  have  given  my  reasons  for 
adopting  the  longer  periods.  It  is  possible  that  Egypt- 
ian authorities  may  yet  throw  a  strong  influence  upon 
the  decision  of  these  much  disputed  i:)oints  of  Hebrew 
chronology. 

The  narrative  shows  that  the  Hebrews  had  become 
numerically  strong  and  were  rapidly  growing  stronger. 
Joseph  had  been  dead  probably  a  considerable  time 
and  all  the  men  of  his  generation.  Being  39  years  old 
when  his  father  came  into  Egypt  and  dying  at  the  age 
of  110,  he  lived  to  protect  his  people  71  years.  Moses 
was  80  years  old  when  he  came  before  Pharaoh,  bearing 
the  command  of  the  Almighty — "  Let  my  people  go." 
It  is  probable  that  the  terrible  edict  to  destroy  all  the 
male  infants  did  not  long  precede  the  birth  of  Moses. 
The  interval  between  the  death  of  Joseph  and  the  -birth 
of  Moses  will  depend  on  the  duration  of  the  entire  so- 
journ in  Egypt,  since  from  this  entire  sojourn  we  must 
subtract  the  years  of  Joseph's  life  after  the  sojourn  be- 
gan and  the  years  of  Moses  before  it  closed,  i.  e.  71  +  80 
=  151.  This  sum  must  be  subtracted  either  from  215, 
leaving  64  ;  or  from  430,  leaving  279.  The  latter  I  as- 
sume to  be  the  true  period.  It  provides  abundantly  for 
the  great  increase  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  accounts 
for  the  fear  felt  by  Egypt's  "  new  king." 

II.  MosES. 

We  shall  study  the  history  of  Moses  Avithout  the  key 
if  we  overlook  the  point  made  by  the  writer  to  the  He- 
brews (11 :  23)  :  "  By  faith  Moses  when  he  was  born  Avas 
hid  three  months  because  they  saw  that  he  Avas  a  proper 
child,  and  they  Avere  not  afraid  of  the  king's  command- 
ment." Faith  in  God  made  them  fearless  of  Egypt's 
cruel  kincr.     It  Avould  seem  also  that  thev  .saw  in  the 


176  MOSES. 

peculiar  beauty  of  this  child  a  sort  of  prophecy  of  his 
future,  something  at  least  which  raised  expectation  and 
put  them  upon  special  ventures  to  save  his  life.  Three 
months  they  secreted  him  within  their  home.  When 
this  expedient  could  suffice  no  longer,  they  prepared  an 
ark  of  bulrushes — a  little  box,  water-tight,  constructed 
to  float — and  moored  it  with  its  treasure  among  the 
flags  on  the  river's  ,bank.  We  may  suppose  that  his 
mother  knew  the  spot  where  the  king's  daughter  was 
wont  to  take  her  baths,  and  that  her  faith  and  prayer 
lay  back  of  this  venture  to  throw  her  darling  infant 
upon  the  compassion  of  a  stranger  woman's  heart.  It 
need  not  be  supposed  that  she  foresaw  his  future  adop- 
tion into  the  royal  family,  his  training  for  forty  years 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyjitians,  and  his  consequent 
qualification  to  become  the  great  Hebrew  Law-giver 
and  Deliverer.  Suffice  it  that  these  results  lay  in  the 
thought  of  God.  She  had  faith  enougli  to  commit  her 
darling  to  God's  care  and  to  leave  all  the  future  un- 
known results  to  his  adjustment. 

The  ways  of  God  were  mercifully  kind  toward  this 
Hebrew  mother.  She  stationed  his  elder  sister  as  a 
sentinel  to  watch  the  issue,  and  then  (let  us  presume) 
gave  herself  to  prayer.  When  this  elder  sister  with 
palpitating  heart  saw  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh  take 
the  beautiful  cliild  to  her  bosom,  she  felt  that  her  time 
had  come.  Modestly  advancing,  she  said,  "  Shall  I  go 
and  call  to  thee  a  nurse  of  the  Hebrew  Avomen  that  she 
may  nurse  the  child  for  thee "  ?  Pharaoh's  daughter 
said,  Go.  How  joyfully  did  she  go  and  call  the  child's 
own  mother!  God's  finger  Avas  there.  The  mother's 
faith  has  come  up  as  sweet  incense  before  Him  and  her 
heart  is  made  glad,  as  only  a  praying  mother's  can  be.- 
There  was  no  occasion  to  tell  us  that  she  consecrated 
this  child  to  Israel's  God  for  any  service  he  might  have 
for  him  in  his  after  life.  Such  a  mother,  drawn  by  her 
sweet  faith  into  such  relationship  to  God,  could  do 
nothing  less.  Moreover,  this  was  no  barren  consecra- 
tion— was  not  a  vow  once  made  and  soon  forgotten. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  she  cared  dili- 
gently for  the  moral  training  and  culture  of  this  mar- 
velously  saved  son.  Else  how  could  it  happen  that 
''  when  he  was  come  to  years,  he  refused  to  be  called  the 
son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter;  choosing  rather  to  suffer 


MOSES.  177 

affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season ;  esteeming  reproach  for 
Christ  greater  riches  than  all  the  treasures  of  Egypt, 
for  he  had  respect  to  the  recompense  of  the  reward" 
(Heb.  11 :  24-26)?  The  seeds  of  this  world-conquering 
faith  must  have  been  dropped  early  into  his  tender 
mind.  This  hired  Hebrew  nurse,  permitted  to  come 
into  the  roj'al  palace  by  some  back-way,  was  indulged 
this  privilege  freely,  we  know  not  precisely  how  long; 
but  let  us  presume  that  the  same  fiiith  and  prayer  kept 
this  door  open,  at  least  for  her  occasional  visits  in  his 
future  years.  How  many  testimonies  of  God's  love  to 
the  fathers  of  their  nation  she  dropped  into  his  youth- 
ful ear ;  how  much  she  told  him  of  God  as  "  the  exceed- 
ing great  reward"  of  his  believing  people ;  how  well  she 
put  the  contrast  between  "  the  treasures  of  Egypt  "  and 
the  treasures  laid  up  for  God's  then  persecuted  people  : — 
these  points  are  rather  left  to  our  inference  than 
definitely  stated;  but  we  may  be  very  sure  that  the 
faith  of  Moses  took  hold  of  these  grand  truths  of  then 
extant  revelation;  fixed  its  hold  early;  and  held  fast 
through  all  his  future  life. 

We  have  three  co-ordinate  narratives  of  the  early 
3^ears  of  Moses:  that  given  in  Heb.  11:  24-27,  very 
brief,  and  touching  only  its  specially  religious  side; 
while  that  of  Stephen  (Acts  7 :  20-29)  is  full,  even 
somewhat  more  full  than  the  narrative  in  Ex.  2 :  10-15. 
Particularly  Stephen  adds  that  Moses  was  "learned  in 
all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  and  mighty  in  words 
and  in  deeds" — a  man  like  Joseph  of  immense  ef- 
ficiency : — also  that  he  was  "full  forty  years  old"  when 
it  came  into  his  heart  to  visit  his  brethren  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel — a  statement  which  shows  that  he  dis- 
tinctly recognized  this  relationship  of  brethren.  See- 
ing a  brother  Hebrew  abused  by  an  Egyptian  he  inter- 
posed, smote  the  Egyptian  dead,  and  buried  him  in  the 
sand.  Stephen's  words  suggest  that  this  was  not 
merely  one  of  those  quick,  spontaneous  impulses  felt  by 
noble  souls  in  view  of  outrageous  wrong,  but  was  a  firf^t 
step  toward  a  contemplated  career  of  interposed  force 
for  the  rescue  of  his  people  from  their  oppression. 
"  For  he  supposed  his  brethren  would  have  understood 
how  that  God  by  his  hand  would  deliver  them ;  but 
they  understood  not "  (Acts  7 :  25).     The  whole  of  the 


178  '      MOSES.  , 

facfc  seems  to  be  that  the  Lord  -^vas  not  yet  ready  and 
had  not  fully  prepared  Moses  for  this  great  life-work  of 
his  yet,  and  certainly  had  not  inaugurated  him  into 

it.^' Interposing  the  next  day  in  a  quarrel  between 

two  of  his  own  Hebrew  brethren,  he  learned  that  his 
slaying  of  the  Egyptian  was  known,  and  immediately 
sought  safety  by  flight  to  the  land  of  Midian.  The 
Lord  had  more  objects  than  one  in  turning  his  steps 
thither ;  not  only  his  then  present  safety,  but  the  spir- 
itual culture  of  so  much  solitude  and  of  long-continued, 
unbroken  communion  with  God  and  of  long  tried  faith, 
coupled  with  the  incidental  advantage  of  becoming 
perfectly  familiar  with  that  great  wilderness  through 
Avhich  he  w'as  to  lead  the  hosts  of  Israel  for  forty 
years. 

Scarcely  had  he  penetrated  this' desert  land  in  his 
flight  when  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  priest  of 
Midian  [.lethro],  and  of  his  seven  shepherdess  daugh- 
ters, one  of  whom  became  his  wife.  Like  the  some- 
what similar  experience  of  Abraham,  falling  in  with 
the  priest  of  Salem,  Melchisedek,  the  circumstance  sug- 
gests the  inquiry  how  much  of  the  true  knowledge  and 
worship  of  God  existed  in  those  early  ages  outside  the 
line  of  Abraham's  family.  The  historical  traces  of  such 
piety  are  certainly  very  few,  yet  they  recur  so  inci- 
dentally that  we  are  justified  in  the  hope  that  these 
cases  are  not  exhaustive;  stood  not  altogether  alone. 
When  we  come  to  consider  the  history  of  Job  we  shall 
take  occasion  to  observe  that  his  location  is  certainly 
in  this  great  region  of  Arabia,  and  that  his  date  must 
in  all  probability  have  somewhat  preceded  this  resi- 
dence of  Moses  in  the  land  of  Midian.  Here  Moses 
may  have  found  the  story  in  a  traditional  form ;  may 
perhaps  have  seen  Job's  immediate  descendants;  may 
possibly  have  put  the  story  in  its  present  form  as  one 
of  the  pastimes  of  a  literary  shepherd's  life ;  and  then, 
retaining  it  in  his  possession  during  his  subsequent 
years,  may  have  himself  solved  the  problem — How 
came  this  book  in  the  archives  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
on  an  equal  footing  as  to  inspired  authority  with  their 
historical  books  ? 

*Many  an  ADierican  reader  will  be  reminded  of  John  Brown 
striking  for  the  redemption  of  the  American  slave. 


THE   MISSION   OP   MOSES.  179 


The  Great  Mission  of  Moses. 

Of  the  second  forty-year  period  in  the  life  of  Moses, 
little  is  reported  save  its  first  scenes  and  its  last.  Ex. 
3  opens  the  latter.  Moses  is  keeping  the  flock  of  his 
father-in-law,  the  priest  of  Midian.  He  has  "  led  them 
to  the  back  side  of  the  desert " — i.  e.  to  the  west  side  of 
it,  for  in  designating  the  points  of  compass  the  Pie- 
brews  always  turned  the  face  toAvard  the  east.  The 
east  is  in  front — before;  and  of  course  the  west  is  be- 
hind.    Horeb  and  Sinai  lay  on  the  western  margin  of 

the  great  Arabian  desert. Here  "the  angel  of  the 

Lord  appeared  to  him  "  (v.  2),  called  "  angel "  however 
only  as  one  who  comes  or  is  sent  with  divine  manifesta- 
tions ;  for  in  every  subsequent  mention  he  is  called  "  the 
Lord"  and  "God""  (vs.  4,  6,  7,  11,  13,  etc.)* Remark- 
ably this  visible  manifestation  was  macle  by  the  sym- 
bol of  fire  in  a  bush — the  bush  all  aflame  yet  not  con- 
sumed. This  strange  sight  attracted  the  attention  of 
Moses,  and  he  turned  aside  to  look  into  it  more  closeh^ 
when  a  voice  from  the  bush  called  him  by  name ; 
warned  him  not  to  approach  in  the  spirit  of  mere  curi- 
osity, but  to  take  off"  his  shoes  because  the  place  on 
which  he  stood  was  holy  ground.  The  mystery  before 
Moses'  mind  is  solved — the  Lord  is  there!  His  pur- 
pose in  this  appearing  is  soon  told.  He  has  heard  the 
cry  of  distress  from  his  oppressed  people,  has  come 
down  to  deliver  them  and  to  bring  them  forth  into 
Canaan.  He  has  a  mission  for  Moses  in  this  work. 
"Come,"  said  he,  "I  will  send  thee  to  Pharaoh." 
Moses  knew  the  power  and  the  pride  of  Pharaoh,  and 
saw  at  a  glance  the  difficulties  of  this  enterprise.  ISo 
Avonder  he  shrank  back  saying — "  Who  am  I  that  I 
should  do  this  "  ?  God  replied :  "  I  will  certainly  be 
with  thee  " — a  sufficient  answer  to  any  amount  of  con- 
scious weakness  and  faintness  of  heart.  The  Lord 
added — "  This  shall  be  a  token  to  thee  that  I  have  sent 
thee ;  when  thou  hast  brought  the  people  out  of  Egypt, 
ye  shall  serve  [*'.  e.  worship]  God  in  this  mountain." 
From  that  moment  this  token  was  God's  pledge  to 
Moses  of  success  in   bringing  the    peoi:tle   forth   from 

*  Soe  on  tho  Scripture  usage  of  "  the  angel  of  the  Lord,"  p.  130. 


180  EXODUS. 

Egypt ;  and  when  it  was  fulfilled  in  the  scenes  of  na- 
tional worship  and  consecration  on  Horeb,  it  became 
doubly  a  sign  to  all  the  people  that  the  Lord  their  God 
was  in  this  great  movement. 

Moses  anticipates  that  the  people  will  ask  for  the 
name  of  God,  and  he  therefore  inquires- -What  shall  I 
answer  them?  To  which  the  Lord  replies:  ^'I am  that  I 
cm";  and  then  abbreviating  the  phrase,  adds,  "Thus 
shalt  thou  say  to  Israel,  /  am  hath  sent  me  to  you." 
What  immediately  follows  should  be  carefull}''  noted. 
God  said  moreover  to  Moses  (still  reiterating  the  same 
thought  though  in  other  and  more  familiar  terms): 
"  Thus  shalt  thou  say  to  the  children  of  Israel :  The 
Lord — i.  e.  Jehovah,  God  of  your  fathers,  hath  sent  me 
unto  you ;  this  is  my  name  forever  and  this  is  my  me- 
morial through  all  generations."  This  v.  15  is  without 
doubt  the  key  to  the  true  sense  of  the  names  as  previ- 
ously given — "/  a/ji  that  I  am,"  and  in  briefer  form,  "1 
am."  Their  true  meaning  is  in  the  name  Jehovah. 
This  name  contemplates  God  as  evermore  existing,  the 
same  unchangeable  God,  and  therefore  ever  faithful  to 
his  promises.  This  view  of  God  assumes  that  he  re- 
veals himself  personally  as  the  God  of  his  trustful 
people,  entering  into  covenant  with  them  and  never 
failing  to  remember  and  fulfill  that  covenant. 

In  order  to  see  the  full  force  and  pertinence  of  the 
passage,  it  should  be  considered  that  by  common  He- 
brew usage,  the  names  of  persons  were  significant. 
They  were  words  with  a  meaning.  This  is  true  of  all 
the  names  by  which  the  true  God  is  made  known. 
And  when  MoseS  suggests  that  the  people  will  ask  for 
God's  name,  it  is  not  implied  that  they  had  never  heard 
any  name  for  God  and  did  not  know  what  to  call  him ; 
but  this — They  would  know  Avhat  new  or  special 
feature  of  his  character  was  to  be  manifested  then. 
Their  question  Avas  equivalent  to  asking — What  does 
God  propose  to  do  now  ?  What  new  movement  does  he 
contemplate  ?     What  new  development  of  God  may  we 

expect? To  the   question  so  understood,  the  Lord 

made  a  direct  answer : — I  have  come  to  reveal  my 
eternal  faithfulness  to  my  covenant  with  your  fathers. 
I  pledged  myself  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  that  I 
would  bring  their  posterity  into  the  goodly  land  of 
Canaan :  I  have  come  down  to  fulfill  that  Avord  and  to 


THE    MISSION    OF    MOSES.  181 

put  into  your  national  history  an  enduring  testimony 
that  my  name  is  truly,  "  I  am  that  I  am  " — the  immu- 
table and  eternal  God,  whose  Avord  of  promise  faileth 
not  forevermore. 

The  same  course  of  thought  appears  again  Ex.  6:  1- 
8 — a  passage  which  should  be  studied  in  connection 
with  this.  "God  said  to  Moses,  I  am  the  Jehovah.  I 
appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob  by 
the  name  of  God  Almighty ;  but  by  my  name  Jehovah 
was  I  not  known  unto  them" — the  meaning  of  which 
is,  not  that  the  name  Jehovah  was  never  used  by  them, 
or  given  of  God  to  them ;  but  that  its  special  significance 
had  not  been  manifested  to  them  as  he  was  then  about 
to  make  it  manifest.  His  pon-er  God  had  revealed — his 
power  to  protect  them  in  their  perils,  his  power  to  fulfill 
tp  Abraham  the  promise  of  a  son ;  but  such  a  glorious 
testimony  to  his  faithfulness  in  fulfilling  promise  as 
was  then  to  be  given,  the  patriarchs  had  never  seen. 
The  redemption  of  Israel  from  Egyptian  bondage  was 
destined  to  stand  through  all  the  ages  of  their  history  as 
the  crowning  manifestation  of  God's  faithfulness — the 
standard  and  vmsurpassed  testimony  to  the  significance 
of  his  most  honored  name  Jehovah.  By  this  shall  ye 
know  that  I  am  Jehovah  your  God  when  I  bring  you 
out  from  under  the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians  and  bring 
you  into  the  land  given  by  solemn  oath  to  your  fathers 
and  to  their  posterity  for  a  heritage  (vs.  7,  8). 

In  entering  upon  this  redemption  of  his  people  the 
Lord  understood  well  the  diflficulties  to  be  overcome  and 
fully  comprehended  the  situation.  If  Moses  saw  them  at 
a  glance,  so  did  the  Lord  also.  It  was  not  possible  that 
Moses  could  have  a  deeper  sense  or  a  juster  view  than 
God  had  of  Pharaoh's  great  pride,  of  his  consciousness 
of  power  and  stubbornness  of  purpose.  The  Lord  ex- 
pected a  conflict ;  was  ready  for  it ;  and  by  no  means 
disposed  to  shun  it.  "  I  am  sure  that  the  king  of  Egy]>t 
will  not  let  you  go;  no,  not  by  a  mighty  hand" — nut 
even  under  fearful  visitations  of  God's  supernatural 
power.  The  precise  sense  of  this  seems  to  be  that  Pha- 
•raoh  would  resist  God's  will  for  a  lonr/  time  despite  the 
inflictions  of  his  mighty  hand  and  would  yield  only  in 
the  last  extremity.  In  fact  he  never  honestly  yielded 
his  will  to  God's"  will,  but  only  bent  for  the  moment 


182  MOSES. 

before  the  blast,  to  rally  again  with  more  desperate 
madness  after  it  had  swept  by.  When  at  length  he 
saw  that  the  people  were  really  gone,  his  unsubdued  will 
rose  again  in  towering  hardihood,  to  rush  more  madly 
than  ever  before  against  the  ujjlifted  arm  of  the  A1-- 
mighty  and  meet  his  doom  in  the  bottom  of  the  Red  Sea! 
This  chapter  closes  (vs.  21,  22)  Avith  directions  to 
the  children  of  Israel  to  ask  the  Egyptians  for  gold, 
silver,  and  raiment.  The  Lord  promised  to  give  them 
such  favor  with  the  people  that  they  would  _  readily 
grant  them  what  they  asked.  Our  English  version  puts 
it  "  borrow  " — as  if  the  Israelites  at  least  tacitly  promised 
to  bring  these  borrowed  things  back,  or  if  nothing  more, 
left  the  Egyptians  to  expect  this.  But  this  English 
word  "borrow"  misrepresents  the  Hebrew  and  conse- 
quently the  sense  of  the  passage.  The  Hebrew  verb 
used  here  never  has  the  sense  of  borroiv,  but  means 
simply  to  ask.  Indeed  borrowing  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion because  the  Israelites  were  not  coming  back  again. 
It  was  never  God's  thought  that  they  should  come  back. 
He  had  come  down  to  deliver  them  from  their  bondage 
and  to  bring  them  into  Canaan.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  Egyptians  expected  them  back  again. 
They  gave  what  Israel  asked,  therefore,  not  as  a  loan, 
but  because  the  Lord  brought  them  into  such  relations 
to  Israel  that  they  were  glad  to  get  them  out  of  the 
couiitry  any  way,  and  perhaps  hoped  to  avert  more 
fearful  plagues  by  these  gifts  to  God's  people.  The  his- 
torian in  this  case  says  (Ex.  12  :  33) — "  The  Egyptians 
were  urgent  upon  the  people  that  they  might  send  them 
out  of  tiie  land  in  haste  ;  for  they  said— We  be  all  dead 
men " ;  which  the  Psalmist  confirms  (Ps.  105  :  38) — 
"Egypt  was  glad  when  they  departed,  for  the  fear  of 
them  fell  upon  them."  Manifestly  the  Lord  counted  it 
simple  justice  that  Egypt  should  pay  her  slaves  for  long 
years  of  unrequited  toil,  and  not  send  them  away  empty. 
Therefore  he  took  measures  to  make  the  old  masters  but 
too  glad  to  do  this  tardy  justice. 

A  new  instrumentality  of  most  vital  importance  now 
came  to  view,  designed  to  bring  about  the  redemption* 
of  God's  people  from  Egypt,  viz.  svpcmatiiral  agencies-^ 
oairades  in  the  legitimate  sense  of  the  word.  Noticeably 
these  miracles  were  two-fold  in  character  and  purpose ; 


RETURNS   TO    EGYPT.  183 

one  class  designed  to  identify  God  to  the  people  and  be 
a  witness  to  his  present  hand,  to  confirm  their  faith  in 
him  as  their  Deliverer :  the  other  designed  by  terrible 
inflictions  of  calamity,  to  force  upon  Pharaoh's  hardened 
heart  the  conviction  of  Jehovah's  power  and  compel 
him  to  let  God's  people  go.  These  two  objects  were  to 
be  accomplished;  the  Hebrew  people  were  to  be  assured 
that  their  own  God  had  indeed  come ;  Pharaoh  must  be 
made  to  know  who  Jehovah  is ;  how  fearful  the  judg- 
ments of  his  uplifted  hand  are ;  and  how  vain  it  is  for 
mortals,  though  on  thrones  of  human  power,  to  lift  up 
ihemselves  against  the  Almighty. 

In  the  list  of  miraculous  signs  sent  to  convince  the 
Hebrew  people,  we  have  (Ex.  4:  1-8)  the  rod  of  Moses 
turned  to  a  serpent  and  then  turned  back  again  to  a 
rod ;  then  his  hand  withdrawn  from  his  bosom  leprous, 
white  as  snow;  then  again  withdrawn,  perfectly  re- 
stored. 

'  The  narrative  gives  the  reader  a  strong  sense  of  the 
reluctance  of  Moses  to  enter  upon  this  new  mission. 
Over  and  over  again,  in  varying  forms,  he  pleads  his 
want  of  adaptation ;  that  he  is  slow  of  speech,  not  elo- 
quent; that  he  sees  no  improvement  in  this  regard  since 
the  Lord  first  spake  to  him;  and  finally  he  begs  the 
Lord  to  send  by  any  body  else  he  pleases,  only  (he  im- 
plies) excuse  me.  Plainly  he  pushed  this  plea  for 
excuse  not  merely  to  the  verge  of  modest  propriety  but 
beyond  it,  for  we  read — "The  anger  of  the  Lord  was 
kindled  against' Moses.'"  Yet  he  did  so  far  regard  the 
plea  of  Moses  as  to  give  him  Aaron  his  elder  brother  to 
speak  in  his  behalf.  "  Thou  shalt  speak  to  him  and 
put  words  into  his  mouth ;  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman 
to  the  people,"  and  to  Pharaoh. 

The  Avay  is  now  prepared  for  Moses  and  his  family  to 
return  from  Midian  to  Egypt.  He  took  his  wife  and 
his  two  sons  and  proceeded  on  his  journey.  The  scenes 
of  the  first  night  at  the  inn  are  recorded  in  these  words : 
"  And  it  came  to  pass  l)y  the  way  in  the  inn,  that  the 
Lord  met  him,  and  sought  to  kill  him.  Then  Zipporah 
took  a  sharp  stone,  and  cut  off  the  foreskin  of  her  son, 
and  cast  it  at  his  feet,  and  said,  Surely  a  blood}^  husband 
art  thou  to  me.  So  he  let  him  go:  then  she  said,  A 
bloody  husband  thou  art,  because  of  the  circumcisit)n." 
This  account  is  very  brief,  leaving  various  points  14 a- 
9 


184  MOSES. 

explained.  Probably  the  facts  were  substantially  these. 
Of  their  two  sons,  one  had  been  circumcised  ;  the  other 
had  not — the  prescribed  rite  having  been  disobeyed  or 
at  least  neglected  out  of  the  deference  of  Moses  to  the 
opposition  or  reluctance  of  his  wife.  But  as  Moses  is 
now  about  to  assume  the  highest  responsibilities  between 
God  and  the  Hebrew  people,  it  is  vital  that  his  example 
in  this  respect  should  be  spotless.  The  Lord  therefore 
called  him  suddenly  to  account  in  this  manner,  threat- 
ening his  very  life.  The  cause  is  instantly  understood; 
the  wife  of  Moses  yields  and  herself  performs  the  rite, 
though  perhaps  not  in  the  most  submissive  and  amiable 
spirit.  After  this  transaction  and  the  developments 
attending  it,  we  must  suppose  that  Moses  (prudently) 
sent  back  his  wife  and  the  two  children  to  remain  with 
her  father  until  the  redeemed  Israelites  should  reach  the 
home  of  Jethro.  We  hear  no  more  of  her  and  her 
children  till  the  narrative  in  Ex.  18  brings  them  to 
view  thus  :  "  When  Jethro  had  heard  all  that  the  Lord 
had  done  for  Moses  and  Israel,  he  took  Zipporah,  Moses' 
wife,  after  he  had  sent  her  back,  and  her  two  sons  and 

brought  them  to  Moses"  etc. Shortly  after  this  scene 

at  the  inn,  Aaron,  sent  of  God  for  this  purpose,  meets 
Moses  3"et  in  the  wilderness  and  is  introduced  to  his 
responsibilities  in  the  issues  then  pending  before  Pha- 
raoh and  the  people.  Tlieir  first  introduction  to  Pharaoh 
and  the  reception  he  gave  to  their  message  (Ex.  5)  re- 
vealed his  character  and  gave  pre-intimations  of  the 
conflict.  They  put  their  case  before  him  : — "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  Let  my  people  go  that  they  may 
hold  a  feast  unto  me  in  the  wilderness."  "  And  Pha- 
raoh said — Who  is  the  Lord  that  I  should  obey  his  voice 
to  let  Israel  go?  I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither  will  I 
let  Israel  go."  Am  not  I  king  over  all  Egypt?  Do 
you  tell  me  there  is  some  higher  king  than  I  and  bid 
me  obey  his  command?  I  know  nothing  of  your  Je- 
hovah :  I  will  never  submit  to  his  authority  !  And  as 
if  to  show  how  fearlessly  he  could  resist  their  summons 
he  at  once  puts  heavier  tasks  upon  the  people,  in  proud 
defiance,  daring  the  vengeance  of  their  Great  Defender! 
Verily  the  issues  hasten  to  their  crisis ! 

The  suffering  people  are  entirely  disheartened  and 
evince  a  painful  lack  of  faith  in  the  God  of  their  fathers. 
When  Moses  rehearsed  to  them  the  inspiring  words  re- 


THE    PLAGUES   ON    PHARAOH   AND    EGYPT.  185 

corded  Ex.  6:  1-8,  "They  hearkened  not  unto  Moses  for 
anguish  of  spirit  and  for  cruel  bondage."  Ah,  how  frail 
is  poor  human  nature !  How  weak  is  the  faith  of  this 
long-oppressed  people !  But  God's  compassions  are  a 
great  deep  and  he  does  not  frown  severely  upon  them, 
broken  down  though  they  were  in  their  manhood  and 
in  their  religious  trust. Moses  too  seems  to  falter  be- 
fore this  stern  reception  from  Pharaoh  and  this  dis- 
heartening attitude  of  Israel  (6 :  12) ;  but  the  loving 
kindness  of  the  Lord  endures,  despite  of  these  sad  imper- 
fections in  his  servants.  For  the  glory  of  his  own  name 
and  not  for  the  worthiness  or  virtue  of  his  people,  he 
lias  entered  upon  this  redeeming  work  and  he  will  carry 
it  through. 

The  narrative  pauses  a  moment  more  (Ex.  6  :  16-27) 
to  give  us  the  genealogy  of  Levi,  for  the  obvious  pur- 
pose of  showing  the  place  of  Moses  and  of  vVaron  in  this 
record;  and  then  proceeds  (Ex.  7  and  onward)  with  the 
impressive  scenes  of  the  ten  j^lcigues  on  Pharaoh  and  on 
Egypt. 

A  brief  preliminary  explanation  of  some  of  these 
plagues  will  be  in  place,  after  which  the  following 
points  will  have  special  attention  : 

1.  That  these  ten  plagues  on  Egypt  were  really  super- 
natural, miraculous. 

2.  Tliat  several  of  them  were  very  specially  adapted 
to  Egypt. 

3.  The  case  of  the  magicians. 

4.  The  divine  purpose  and  policy  in  shaping  the  de- 
mand made  upon  Pharaoh  to  let  the  people  go. 

5.  The  hardening  of  Pliaraoh's  heart. 

6.  The  final  result  as  shown  in  the  last  of  the  ten 
plagues. 

The  ten  plagues  in  their  historical  order  stand  thus: 

1.  Water  turned  to  blood  (Ex.  7  :  14-25)  ; 

2.  Frogs  (8:  1-15)  ■; 

3.  Lice  (8 :  16-19) ; 

4.  Flies  (8 :  20-32) ; 

5.  Murrain  upon  cattle  (9  :  1-7) ; 

6.  Roils  (9  :  8-12) ; 

7.  Hail  (9  :  18-35)  ; 

S.  Locusts  (10:  4-20); 


186  THE   MISSION   OF   MOSES. 

9.  Darkness  (10:  21-27); 

10.  Death  of  all  first-born  (11:  4-8,  and  12:  12, 
29-33). 

References  to  these  plajrues  by  name  may  be  seen  in 
Ps.  78  :  43-51.  and  105  :  27-38. 

By  way  of  preliminary  explanation  it  should  bo 
said — that  the  turning  of  water  into  blood  should  not  be 
toned  down  to  a  mere  discoloration  of  the  waters  of 
Egypt — a  reddening  of  such  sort  as  customarily  at- 
tends the  annual  rise  of  the  Nile,  only  carried  in  the 
present  case  somewhat  beyond  the  ordinary  degree. 
For,  be  it  noticed,  the  record  is  that  the  waters  were 
turned  to  blood  ;  that  fish  could  no  longer  live  in  it  but 
died  (were  the  fish  deceived  by  the  mere  appearance, 
the  color?);  that  the  river  became  offensive  to  the 
smell ;  its  Avaters  could  not  be  drank ;  "  there  was  blood 
throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt."  If  this  language 
does  not  mean  far  more  than  a  uiere  discoloration— some- 
thing totally  different  from  a  visual  deception ;  in  short, 
if  it  does  not  mean  "  turned  to  blood,''  then  no  language 
can  be  found  to  express  it. 

In  the  third  plague,  the  Hebrew  word  for  "  lice "  * 
were  better  rendered  gnats,  yet  an  insect  unknown  to 
our  country.  Herodotus  (B.  C.  400)  sj^eaks  of  the  great 
trouble  which  they  cause  and  of  the  precautions  used 
against  them.  Hartmann  testifies :  "All  travelers 
speak  of  these  gnats  as  an  ordinary  plague  of  the  coun- 
try." t  "  So  small  as  to  be  scarcely  visible  to  the  eye, 
their  sting  notwithstanding  causes  a  most  painful  irri- 
tation. They  even  creep  into  the  eyes  and  nose,  and 
after  harvest  rise  in  great  swarms  from  the  inundated 
rice  fields."     (Keil.) 

In  the  fourth  plague,  the  word  translated  "swarms 
of  flies  ";j;  does  not  mean  a  mixed  mass  or  swarm  of  va- 
rious insects  as  our  translators  assumed,  but  "  a  sting- 
ing, scorpion-like  insect"  [Fuerst],  "so  called  from  its 
sucking  the  blood"  [Gesenius].  Sonnini  (in  Hengstcn- 
berg's  Moses,  p.  117)  says — "Men  and  animals  are 
grievously  tormented  by  them.  It  is  impossible  to 
form  an  adequate  conce2:)tion  of  their  fury  when  they 

1  Hengstenberg's  Egypt  and  IMoscs,  pp.  115  and  116 


THE   PLAGUES   ON    EGYPT.  187 

wish  to  fix  themselves  upon  any  part  of  the  body.  If 
they  are  driven  away  they  light  again  the  same  in- 
stant, and  their  pertinacity  wearies  the  most  patient. 
The}^  especially  love  to  light  in  the  corners  of  the  eyes 
or  on  the  edge  of  the  eyelids,  sensitive  parts  to  which 
they  are  attracted  by  a  slight  moisture."  "They  are 
much  more  numerous  and  annoying  than  the  gnats ; 
and  when  enraged,  they  fasten  themselves  upon  the 
iiuman  body,  especially  upon  the  edge  of  the  eyelids 

and  become  a  dreadful  plague  "   [Keil]. Obviously 

the  American  house-fly  gives  us  no  adequate  idea  of 
this  fourth  plague  on  Egypt. 

Of  the  sixth  plague,  "  boils  with  blains,"  it  need  only 
be  said  that  they  were  inflamed  ulcers  breaking  forth 
into  pustules,  intensely  painful.  The  word  for  "  boils  " 
is  the  same  which  describes  the  plague  brought  by 
Satan  upon  Job. 

The  seventh  plague,  hail  with  llghtving,  was  not  un- 
known in  Egypt,  3'et  was  by  no  means  common,  and 
was  specially  rare  in  Upper  Egypt — more  frequent  in 
Lower. The  other  plagues  will  be  readily  under- 
stood. 

1.  It  is  now  in  place  to  show  that  these  plagues  were 
really  su'pernatural — miraculous  inflictions  from  the 
hand  of  the  Almighty. 

(1.)  Note,  they  were  wrought  in  response  to  Pharaoh's 
challenge  to  Moses  and  Aaron  to  "  show  a  miracle  for 
themselves"  (Ex.  7:  9).  The  Lord  accepted  this  chal- 
lenge. Of  course  the  achievements  wrought  can  be 
nothing  less  than  n^iracles.  Given  on  the  side  of  the 
Lord  honesty  and  power;  then  nothing  less  than  mira- 
cles can  follow. 

His  purpose  in  these  terrible  inflictions  God  an- 
nounces to  Pharaoh  in  these  w^ords  :  "  By  this  shalt 
thou  know  that  I  am  the  Lord"  (Ex.  7 :  19  and  9:  14). 
Events  in  the  common  course  of  nature  do  not  suffice 
fortius  pur^^ose  upon  such  a  heart  as  Pharaoh's.  The 
case  demands  real  miracles — things  done  outside  and 
apart  from  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature. 

(2.)  The  plagues  came  and  went  at  the  behest  of 
Moses  acting  under  God ;  in  some  cases,  at  a  definite 
time  previously  indicated  (9  :  5,  18,  29,  33  and  10:  4); 
while  some  were  removed  at  a  time  which  Pharaoh  him- 


188  THE    MISSION    OF    MOSES. 

self  for  his  more  full  satisfaction  was  allowed  to  fix  (8 : 
9,  10).  So  I  construe  the  somewhat  disputed  words  (v. 
.8} ;  "  Moses  said  to  Pharaoh — Glory  over  me  :  When 
shall  I  entreat  for  thee,"  etc.  Moses  would  say — I  yield 
to  you  the  honor  of  fixing  the  time :  say  when ;  and  I 
meet  j^our  time. Some  critics  translate  simply — Ex- 
plain; declare  yourself  (Gesenius) ;  or  utter  plainly, 
definitely  (Fuerst);  but  the  usual  sense  of  the  verb, 
coupled  with  the  preposition  ("over")  which  follows, 
strongly  favors  the  construction  above  given. 

(3.)  Most  of  these  plagues  if  not  all  discriminated 
sharply  between  the  Hebrews  in  Goshen,  and  the 
Egyptians  elsewhere  in  Egypt — e.  g.  flies  (8:  22,  23) 
and  murrain  (9 :  4-7),  etc.  This  discrimination  assumes 
that  the  plagues  followed  no  general  law  of  nature,  but 
were  altogether  special,  i.  e.  were  truly  miraculous. 

(4.)  They  surpassed  and  even  totally  eclipsed  the 
achievements  of  the  magicians;  in  fact,  routed  them 
utterly  from  the  field  and  showed  before  all  Egjq^t  that 
the  Almighty  God  was  there  ! The  case  of  the  magi- 
cians will  be  considered  more  fully  below. 

(5.)  The  conviction  was  forced  upon  Pharaoh  and  the 
confession  extorted  from  his  lips  (utterly  against  his 
will),  that  God's  hand  wrought  these  achievements ; 
that  these  calamities  came  at  his  command,  and  could 
be  removed  by  his  power  and  not  otherwise.  Hence 
over  and  over  he  begs  Moses  to  pray  to  his  God  for  their 
removal.  See  this  in  the  case  of  the  frogs  (8 :  8)  ;  of 
the  flies  (8 :  28,  29) ;  of  the  hail  (9 :  27-29) ;  and  the 
locusts  (10:  16-18).  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  stronger 
testimony  to  the  reality  of  miracles  can  ever  exist. 

(6.)  That  these  plagues  were  real  miracles,  direct  from 
the  hand  of  God,  it  is  unquestionably  the  intent  of  the 
whole  narrative  to  set  forth  and  affirm.  So  much,  no 
candid  reader  of  the  account  has  ever  questioned.  Some 
may  say,  the  narrator  was  himself  deceived :  none  will 
deny  that  he  saw  God's  finger  there  and  meant  to  make 
all  his  readers  see  it.  None  can  deny  that  according  to 
his  account  even  proud  Pharaoh  saw  and  felt  the  very 
finger  of  God  in  them.  In  fact  the  narrative  makes  this 
its  main  purpose,  viz.  to  show  that  these  judgments  were 
nothing  less  than  immediate  visitations  from  the  hand 
of  the  Almighty.  Take  out  this  element  and  there  is 
nothina;  left. 


THE    PLAGUES   ADAPTED   TO   EGYPT.  189 

(7.)  Or  thus  :  If  there  is  any  truth  in  history,  the 
rhiklren  of  Israel  were  for  a  long  period  bondmen  in 
Egypt.  Ultimately  the  day  of  their  deliverance  broke 
and  they  came  forth  free.  Hoio  came  this  to  pass?  Was 
it  by  forcible  insurrection — the  uprising  of  slaves  cut- 
ting their  way  out  of  bondage  into  freedom  with  bravo 
liearts  and  strong  arms  of  their  own  ?  Or  was  it  achieved 
by  diplomacy?  Or  did  Pharaoh  relax  his  grasp  and  let 
the  people  go,  under  the  impulses  of  humanity,  or  as  a 
measure  of  political  economy?  All  suppositions  of  this 
sort  are  not  only  unhistorical  but  utterly  chimerical. 
No  solution  of  this  great  problem — the  redemption  of 
Israel  from  bondage  in  Egypt — can  ever  find  rational 
support  save  the  one  given  in  this  record,  viz.  that  the 
Almighty  wrenched  them  from  the  grasp  of  Egypt's 
proud  and  hardened  king  by  a  series  of  terrible  judg- 
ments launched  upon  him  and  his  people  in  quick  and 
hot  succession,  until  they  were  only  too  glad  to  hasten 
and  drive  the  jDCople  out  lest  they  should  all  bo  dead 
men.  They  were  made  to  feel  that  the  battle  was 
against  Almighty  God  and  that  they  could  not  succumb 
too  soon. 

The  events  of  this  wonderful  conflict  and  victory  were 
stamped  into  the  national  life  of  Israel ;  they  reappear 
all  along  the  course  of  future  ages,  interAvoven  into  the 
very  warp  and  Avoof  of  her  national  history  and  into  the 
moral  forces  which  developed  the  nation's  piety.  It 
might  as  reasonably  be  maintained  that  there  never 
was  any  Hebrew  nation  as  that  God  did  not  bring  them 
forth  out  of  Egypt  with  a  high  hand,  first  loosing  Pha- 
raoh's grasp  by  these  ten  plagues,  and  last,  burying  his 
pursuing  hosts  and  himself  in  the  waters  of  theRed 
Sea. 

The  supernatural  character  of  these  plagues  will  stand 
out  3'et  more  distinctly  when  we  shall  place  them  in 
contrast  with  the  things  done  or  attempted  by  the  magi- 
cians. 

2.  Several  of  these  plagues  were  very  specially  adapted  to 
Egypt. 

This  does  not  mean  that  they  were  at  all  less  miracu- 
lous than  any  other  supposable  inflictions  would  have 
been ;  but  only  that  they  had  more  or  less  special  fitness 
to  the  ends  God  had  in  view  and  were  made  to  touch 


190  THE   MISSION   OF   MOSES. 

the  sensibilities  of  E?;ypt  and  her  king  in  tender  points. 
Thus,  the  Nile  Avas  Egypt's  pride  and  glory,  indeed  her 
very  life,  and  not  improbably  (as  some  maintain)  was 
worshiped  by  the  Egyptians  as  one  of  their  gods.  How 
terrible  then  to  wake  in  the  morning  to  find  it  one 
vast  sea  of  blood ! — to  have  only  blood  for  themselves 
and  their  cattle  to  drink ;  blood  every-where  for  the 
eye  to  rest  upon  in  place  of  the  glory  of  the  Nile  !  How 
terribly  suggestive  of  their  national  sin — of  the  male 
infants  of  the  Hebrews  murdered  there,  and  of  the  re- 
sources of  Israel's  God  to  punish  the  guilty  ! 

So  we  must  suppose  that  frogs  were  often  inconven- 
iently plenty  in  Egjqotian  waters.  This  visitation  of 
such  masses  of  them  brought  an  evil  by  no  means  for- 
eign to  their  experience.  The  miracle  lay  in  their 
numbers  and  was  none  the  less  a  miracle  because  there 
had  been  frogs  there  before.  It  must  have  been  excess- 
ively annoying  and  humiliating, — if  the  frog  as  a  near 
neighbor  is  as  unamiable  in  that  country  as  in  this. 

Essentially  the  same  must  be  said  of  the  lice  [gnats]  ; 
of  the  flies;  and  of  boils.  All  these  were  forms  of  evil 
not  unknown  in  Egyj^tian  life ;  but  yet  in  the  present 
case  were  truly  miraculous  and  fearfully  afflictive. 

Their  cattle  were  so  useful  and  so  highly  esteemed 
that  some  of  them  were  made  objects  of  idolatrous  wor- 
ship. The  golden  calf  of  Hebrew  history  was  an  Egypt- 
ian idea.  There  was  special  pertinence  therefore  in  this 
fearful  slaughter  among  Egypt's  gods ! 

The  hail,  with  most  terrific  lightning,  was  by  far  the 
more  appalling  because  rain  rarely  falls  there  ;  hail  and 
lightning  yet  more  rarely. 

In  the  natural  coui'se  of  events,  locusts  are  among  the 
fearful  visitations  of  Oriental  countries — not  unknown 
in  Egypt.  In  this  case  the  fearfulness  of  the  plague  lay 
in  their  nuixibers,  and  the  miracle  was  none  the  less  be- 
cause they  had  had  some  experience  before  of  this  form 
of  desolation. 

3.   Tlie  case  of  the  magicians. 

The  entire  account  of  them  is  in  these  words.  After 
Aaron  had  cast  down  his  rod  before  Pharaoh  and  it  be- 
came a  serpent,  "  Then  Pharaoh  called  the  wise  men 
and  the  sorcerers,  and  they  also,  the  magicians  of  Egypt, 
did  so  with  their  enchantments.     For  they  cast  down 


THE    CASE   OF   THE   HIAGICIANS.  191 

every  man  his  rod  and  they  became  serpents ;  but 
Aaron's  rod  swallowed  up  their  rods  "  (Ex.  7 :  11,  12). 
Again,  after  the  miracle  of  turning  the  water  to  blood, 
"  The  magicians  of  Egypt  did  so  with  their  enchant- 
ments" (7:  22).  After  the  miracle  of  the  frogs,  "the 
magicians  did  so  with  their  enchantments  and  brought 
up  frogs  upon  the  land  of  Egypt "  (8  :  7).  Next,  when 
all  the  dust  became  lice,  "  the  magicians  did  so  with 
their  enchantments  to  bring  forth  lice,  hut  they  could  not: 
so  there  were  lice  upon  man  and  upon  beast.  Then  the 
magicians  said  to  Pharaoh — This  is  the  finger  of  God  " 
(8:  18,  19).  Finally,  under  the  plague  of  Wis,  "The 
magicians  could  not  stand  before  Moses  because  of  the 
boils,  for  the  boil  was  upon  the  magicians  and  upon 
all  the  Egyptians"  (9:  11).  We  hear  of  them  in  this 
history  no  more. 

The  Hebrew  word  for  "sorcerers"  involves  the  practice 
of  magic  arts  and  incantations.  The  word  for  "  magi- 
cians of  Egypt "  contemplates  them  originally  as  ivriters^ 
the  learned  class,  but  couples  with  that  the  idea  of 
special  skill  in  horoscopy— the  interpretation  of  dreams 
and  the  doing,  or  at  least  pretending  to  do,  things  beyond 
the  skill  of  the  uninitiated.  The  word  for  "  enchant- 
ments" originally  suggests  secret  arts,  things  covered, 

veiled  from  the  public  gaze. The  passage  Deut.  18  : 

10-14,  gives  most  if  not  all  the  nearly  synonymous 
words  by  which  this  class  of  men  and  their  arts  were 
designated,  showing  also  that  they  were  regarded  before 
the  Lord  with  most- intense  abhorrence  as  an'abomina- 
tion.  By  the  Mosaic  law  the  practice  of  these  arts  was 
jounishable  with  death  (Ex.  22:  12). 

In  regard  to  the  case  of  the  magicians  as  presented 
in  this  history,  the  point  of  chief  interest  will  be  this — 
Did  they  really  perform  miracles  ?  Did  they  in  fact 
turn  rods  into  serpents,  and  water  into  blood,  and  pro- 
duce some  frogs  in  addition  to  what  were  there  before  ? 
1  am  not  sure  that  we  have  data  sufficient  to  de- 
termine with  certainty  whether  these  things  ascribed 
to  them  were  simply  tricks  of  hand,  arts  of  jugglery  ; 
or  whether  there  was  really  some  power  exerted,  more 

and  other  than  human. The  cases  were  of  a  sort  in 

Avhich  deception  was  at  least  supposable.  All  the 
waters  it  would  seem  were  turned  to  blood  before  their 
effort  was  made.     If  so,  they  had  to  do  with  what  waa 


192  THE    MISSION   OP    MOSES. 

already  blood  and  had  only  to  make   it  appear  to  be 

water  before  they  began  operations. So  of  the  frogs. 

When  frogs  were  every-where  in  such  rmmbers,  it  would 
not  be  specially  difficult  to  make  it  appear  that  they 
produced  yet  more.  The  turning  of  rods  into  serpents 
is  not  unknown  in  the  tricks  of  jugglery  the  world 
over. 

Of  two  facts  we  may  be  very  sure.  (1)  They  had  no 
help  from  God.  Their  wonders  were  not  Avrought  by 
God's  power.  We  may  put  this  denial  on  two  inde- 
pendent grounds : (a.)  The  moral  purpose  of  their 

work   utterly  forbids  the  least  participation  on  God's 

part.     God  never  fights  against  himself. (b.)  Their 

power  was  infinitely  less  than  divine.  Comj^ared  with 
God's,  it  was  shown  to  be  simple  weakness.  "Aaron's 
rod  swallowed  up  their  rods."  Before  the  plague  of  lice 
they  were  compelled  to  succumb,  and  (utterly  against 
their  will  and  against  their  interest)  they  declare  to 
Pharaoh — "This  is  the  finger  of  God"!  It  utterly  dis- 
tances all  our  skill.  We  can  not  approach  it.  Before 
the  boils,  they  writhed  in  agony.  They  could  not  even 
screen  themselves  from  the  terrible  infliction.  More- 
over it  is  made  plain  throughout  the  whole  transaction 
that  they  were  powerless  to  remove  even  the  slightest 
of  these  plagues.  If  they  had  possessed  this  power  Pha- 
raoh would  have  put  them  to  this  service.  It  is  plain 
they  shrank  from  even  the  attempt.  The  whole  scene 
was  a  competition  between  God's  power  as  manifested 
through  his  servants,  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  the  power 
of  Egypt's  magicians — resulting  in  most  overwhelm- 
ing proof  that  the  latter  had  not  the  first  element  of 

God's  power  in  it. It  follows  therefore  that  if  the 

magicians  had  extra-human  help — if  they  had  any 
power  beyond  human  skill,  they  obtained  it  from  Satan. 
We  may  readily  suppose  they  were  in  league  with  him, 
working  according  to  his  will.  He  may  have  sharp- 
ened their  wits  by  his  influence,  helped  their  arts  by 
his  suggestions,  and  possibly  may  have  given  them 
superhuman  aid  in  the  line  of  physical  power.  It  is 
not  given  to  us  to  know  the  exact  limits  of  liis  power 
to  aid  his  servants.  It  is  not  essential  that  we  should 
know  precisely  where  these  limits  are.  We  know 
enough  to  impress  the  injunction— ."  Be  sober,  be  vigil- 
ant, because  of  A'our  adversary  the  devil"  (1  Pet.  5:  8). 


THE    DEMAND    UPON    PHARAOH.  193 

It  may  alwa3'S  be  our  consolation  that  whenever  he 
matches  his  power  or  his  sivill  against  the  Almighty, 
he  will  come  off,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  utterly 
worsted  in  the  fight,  overwhelmed  with  defeat  and 
shame. 

4.  Some  attention  should  be  given  to  the  divine  pur- 
pose  and  policy  in  shaping  the  demand  made   upon 

Pharaoh  to  let  the  people  go. The  point  of  special 

importance  here  is  one  which  has  been  thought  to  in- 
volve the  question  of  strict  moral  honesty — it  being 
claimed  that  the  divine  demand  at  first  ran  on  this 
wise  :  "  Let  us  go  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness 
that  we  may  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  our  God  "  (Ex.  3 :  18)  — 
leaving  Pharaoh  to  assume  that,  this  being  granted, 
they  would  return  to  his  service. 

The  facts  on  this  point  are : 

(1.)  It  was  never  promised  or  even  intimated  that 
they  would  return.  If  Pharaoh  construed  the  words 
of  God  and  of  Moses  to  imjDly  this,  he  did  so  on  his 
own  responsibilit}'. 

(2.)  The  demand  made  upon  him  that  he  should  let 
the  people  go  was  based  in  part  at  least  on  the  religious 
duty  of  sacrificing  to  God  in  the  wilderness  (Ex.  5  :  1, 
3) — an  entirely  appropriate  demand — one  which  Pha- 
raoh ought  to  have  appreciated,  and  one  which  would 
be  more  likely  to  have  weight  with  him  than  any  other. 
For  he  was  himself  a  worshiper  of  his  own  gods;  he 
knew  the  strength  of  the  religious  element  in  human 
nature ;  he  was  able  to  recognize  the  universal  rights  of 
conscience  by  which  every  man  may  claim  to  worship 
God  according  to  his  own  convictions  of  dut3^  If  Pha- 
raoh would  not  yield  to  this  request  he  would  yield  to 
none.  The  policy  pursued  was,  therefore,  the  most  hoj^e- 
ful  and  the  least  likely  to  arouse  opposition. 

(3.)  Even  the  severest  honesty  did  not  require  that  the 
Lord  should  put  this  demand  in  its  most  revolting 
form  in  the  outset.  True,  he  might  have  said  from  the 
beginning:  "My  people  shall  never  return";  but  this 
would  have  at  once  foreclosed  all  hope  of  gaining 
Pharaoh's  corisent. 

(4.)  If  the  question  of  the  return  of  the  people  was 
thus  left  a  very  little  open — or  more  correctly,  was  not 
peremptorily   closed,  it  served  the  better  to  test   the 


194     THE  HARDENING  OF  PHARAOH's  HEART. 

heart  of  Pharaoh.  It  left  the  way  open  to  ply  hira 
with  inducements  most  likely  to  be  successful ;  and  at 
the  same  time  if  he  proved  obstinate  and  self-willed,  he 
might  show  it  by  bantering  over  the  conditions,  hig- 
gling as  tradesmen  and  their  customers  sometimes  do 
over  the  price,  negotiating  like  diplomatists  for  the 
most  favorable  terms.  But  this  was  the  fault  of  Pharaoh, 
not  of  God. 

(5.)  Most  frequently  the  demand  was  made  in  these 
significant  words :  "  Let  my  people  go  that  they  may 
serve  me"  (Ex.  8:  1,  20,  and  9:  1,  13).  Israel  is  my 
son;  his  service  is  due  to  me  and  I  claim  it  (Ex.  4 :  22, 
23).  You  have  no  right  to  his  services ;  I  demand 
therefore  that  you  let  my  son  go  that  he  may  serve 

me. This  is  at  least  sufficiently  definite,  and  is  by 

no  means  open  to  the  slightest  imputation  of  lacking  in 
the  j)oint  of  honesty. 

5.   The  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart. 

In  this  topic,  as  in  the  one  next  jDreceding,  the  point 
of  chief  interest  is  the  moral  one — that  which  locates 
the  moral  resiwnsibility  for  the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's 
heart — that  which  defines  and  places  truthfully  the 
really  responsible  agency  in  the  case.  Was  this  hard- 
ening the  work  of  God,  by  his  immediate  hand?  Was 
it  wrought  b}"  his  power  so  exclusively  and  in  such 
modes  as  to  overrule  and  throw  out  of  account  Pharaoh's 
own  responsible  agency? 

Or  was  the  responsible  agency  that  of  Pharaoh  only, 
altogether  his  aiid  his  alone  ?  Did  he  harden  his  own 
heart,  in  the  exercise  of  his  own  free  Avill,  in  carrying 
out  the  purpose  and  desire  of  his  own  soul,  essentially 
as  other  sinners  and  as  all  sinners  do? 

This  question  is  one  of  immensely  vital  moment. 
Let  us  approach  it  with  both  care  and  candor. 

We  raay  reach  the  true  answer  by  studying, 

(1.)  The  history  of  the  case ; 

(2.)  What  is  said  of  God's  purpose  in  this  matter ; 

(3.)  AVhat  he  has  taught  us  of  his  character,  and  of 
his  agencies  in  the  existence  of  sin. 

(1.)  The  history  of  the  transaction  will  doubtless 
throw  light  on  the  question — How  came  Pharaoh's 
heart  to  be  hardened?     Howuns  it  donef 


WHO   HARDENED   PHARAOIl's   HEART?  195 

The  histoiy  of  the  transaction,  devcloiiing  the  steps 
of  the  process,  bears  more  vitally  upon  the  question, 
Who  is  responsible? — than  may  at  first  view  be  real- 
ized. For,  let  it  be  carefully  considered :  God's  ways  of 
working  by  his  immediate,  direct,  exclusive  agency 
will  forever  be  mysterious  and  inscrutable  to  us.  It  is 
idle  for  us  to  ask — Hoio  does  God  work  a  miracle  ?  Of 
course  it  must  be  idle  for  us  to  inquire  after  the  nat- 
ural law  of  such  working  because  the  very  idea  of  a 
miracle  is  that  of  a  work  not  wrought  according  to  any 
known  laws  of  nature.  If  now  the  hardening  of 
Pharaoh's  heart  were  wrought  by  God's  miraculous,  di- 
rect, immediate  hand,  we  shall  look  in  vain  for  the  law 
of  his  operations.  It  would  be  simply  preposterous  to 
inquire  after  the  laws  of  mind  in  accordance  with 
which  the  thing  was  done — the  supposition  being  that 
it  was  done  according  to  no  known  laws  of  mind  what- 
ever. 

On  the  other  hand  if  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own 
heart,  there  will  be  no  mystery  about  it.  It  so  happens 
that  we  all  know  but  too  well  how  sinners  harden  their 
own  hearts.  There  is  rarely  the  least  difficulty  in 
tracing  the  operations  of  the  human  mind  and  the  in- 
fluences of  temptation  which  produce  this  result. 
Therefore,  if  the  histor}^  of  the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's 
heart  brings  out  the  working  of  his  mind,  according  to 
the  common  modes  of  human  sinning — if  we  see  that 
his  mind  worked  as  the  minds  of  other  proud  sinners 
are  wont  to  work  under  like  circumstances,  then  the 
whole  question  is  settled  at  once  and  forever.  If  we 
can  actually  see  hoAV  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  heart 
and  can  identify  the  whole  process  as  being  the  very 
same  Avhich  occurs  in  the  case  of  all  proud  sinners  who 
resist  God's  power  and  especially  resist  the  appeals  of 
his  love  and  mercy,  what  more  can  we  ask?  It  were 
worse  than  idle — it  were  impious  to  exonerate  Pharaoh 
from  the  least  portion  of  the  moral  responsibility 
for  his  hardened  heart  and  to  seek  to  cast  it  over  ui:)on 
God. 

In  entering  upon  the  Idstory  of  the  case,  it  is  well  to 
note  the  attitude  of  Pharaoh's  mind  toward  the  God  of 
Israel  in  the  outset.  We  have  it  brought  out  fully 
(Ex.  5:  1,  2):  "Moses  and  Aaron  went  in  and  told 
Pharaoh:  'Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel;  let  my 


196  HARDENING   OF   PHARAOH's   HEART. 

people  go  that  they  may  serve  me.'  And  Pharaoh 
said — Tl'%0  is  the  Lord  that  I  should  ohey  his  voice  to 
let  Israel  go?     I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither  will  I  let 

Israel  go." This  is  plain;  he  says  he  does  not  know 

this  God;  he  does  not  recognize  his  authority  or  admit 
his  claims.  His  soul  is  full  of  practical  unbelief  in 
God — a  fact  which  commonly  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all 

the    hardening   of   sinners'   hearts    in   every  age. 

Pharaoh  did  not  at  first  contemplate  crossing  swords 
and  measuring  strong  arms  with  the  Almighty  God.  If 
he  had  taken   this  view  of  the  case,  he  might  have 

paused  awhile  to  consider. So   it   usually  is  with 

sinners.  Unbelief  in  God  conduces  to  launch  them 
upon  this  terrible  conflict.  Once  committed,  they  be- 
come more  hardened;  one  sin  leads  on  to  more  sinning 
till  sin  becomes  incurable — shall  we  say  it  ?  an  uncon- 
trollable madness. 

We  may  now  fitly  proceed  to  give  attention  to  each 
particular  case. 

Tlie  first  miracle  (Ex.  7 :  10-13)  that  of  changing 
Aaron's  rod  to  a  serpent,  was  rather  a  test  than  a  plague. 
Pharaoh  met  it  by  calling  in  his  magicians  to  try  their 
hand — his  thought  being,  ]\Iy  men  can  do  that!  They 
did  seem  to  do  it,  and  though  Aaron's  rod-serpent  swal- 
lowed up  theirs,  yet  Pharaoh  did  not  love  to  be  con- 
vinced and  therefore  was  not.  Under  this  result,  which 
perhaps  seemed  to  him  a  partial  victory,  he  braced 
himself  against  God  this  time. 

Next,  in  the  turning  of  water  into  blood  we  read  (Ex. 
7  :  22)  :  "  The  magicians  did  so  with  their  enchant- 
ments, and  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened."  This 
seemed  to  him  a  complete  success  for  his  side.  Nat- 
urally, therefore,  his  heart  is  hardened  to  withstand 
God  yet. 

Under  the  plague  of  frogs — not  by  any  means  one  of 
the  most  severe — Pharaoh  seemed  to  yield;  he  at  least 
begged  the  prayers  of  Moses  and  Aaron;  and  promised 
to  let  the  people  go  (Ex.  8 :  8).  To  make  God's  hand 
the  more  distinctly  visible,  Moses  said — Set  your  own 
time,  and  I  will  pray  that  this  plague  may  cease. 
Done:  "but  when  Pliaraoh  saw  tliat  there  was  respite,  he 
hardened  his  heart  and  hearkened  not  unto  them"  (8: 
15).  Alas,  how  he  abused  God's  mercy!  God  lifted 
the  plague — and  uj)  springs  the  old  rebellion  of  his  soul 


HISTORY   OP    THE    CASE.  197 

against  God.  Perhaps  he  flatters  himself  that  this  is 
the  hxst,  or  he  hopes  that  Moses  will  pray  the  rest  away 
as  he  has  this;  or,  as  often  happens,  the  simple  sense  of 
respite  without  any  particular  reasoning  in  the  case 
makes  him  feel  strong  again  to  withstand  God.  Not 
the  least  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  favor — the  mercy  of 
removing  the  plague !  O  how  many  of  the  sinners  of 
our  world  have  done  this  very  thing!  Stricken  down 
with  sickness,  have  they  not  begged  for  life  and  be- 
sought the  prayers  of  all  the  good,  and  promised  the 
Lord  that  with  restoring  mercy  they  would  give  him 
their  hearts  and  their  lives?  But  when  the  respite 
came  their  vows  were  forgotten;  their  hearts  were 
hardened. 

The  plague  of  lice  brings  out  another  element  of  de- 
praved hearts.  The  magicians  try,  but  make  an  utter 
failure,  and  (what  is  to  Pharaoh  more  provoking  still) 
they  frankly  declare  to  him,  "  This  is  the  finger  of 
God."  They  retire  from  the  contest,  and  leave  Pharaoh 
to  fight  it  out  alone.  They  can  help  him  no  longer. 
lie  is  apparently  vexed  and  maddened,  but  not  at  all 
subdued.  Rather,  he  rouses  him.self  to  greater  despera- 
tion, for  the  record  jiuts  these  points  in  the  closest  con- 
nection :  the  frank  admission,  "  This  is  the  finger  of 
God";  and  the  stiffening  of  Pharaoh's  rebellious  will — ■ 
^^And  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened  and  he  hearkened 
not  unto  them." 

The  plague  of  flies  brings  out  yet  another  element  of 
human  nature  which  not  mifrequently  comes  into  play 
in  the  hardening  of  men's  hearts  against  God — viz.  the 
habit  of  bantering — sliall  we  say  dickering,  driving  a 
bargain  and  quibbling  over  the  terms  and  conditions 
of  God's  requirements.  The  flies  are  terribly  annoy- 
ing :  Pharaoh  sees  that  something  must  be  done ;  in 
fact  he  concludes  he  must  make  some  concessions :  so  he 
calls  for  Moses  and  Aaron  and  says — "  Go  ye,  sacrifice 
to  your  God  in  the  land.''  The  last  words  Avere  em- 
])hatic — in  this  land :  stay  here,  and  you  shall  have  time 
to  offer  your  sacrifices.  I  can  not  let  you  go  three  days 
journey    into    the    wilderness    lest    ye    never    come 

l)ack. jMoses  insists  on  the  original  terms;  and  then 

Pharaoh  concedes  yet  a  little  more:  "I  will  let  you  go 
that  ye  may  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  your  God  in  the  wil- 
derness, only  ye  shall  not  go  very  far  away.     Entreat  for 


198  HARDENING   OF    niARAOH's   HEART. 

me  " — i.  e.  entreat  the  Lord  to  take  away  these  flies — 
the  same  word  being  used  here  as  in  v.  8.  Moses  en- 
treated: the  Lord  removed  the  plague,  and  according  to 
the  record  "  Pharaoh  hardened  his  heart  at  this  time 
also,  neither  would  he  let  the  people  go."  Allowing 
himself  to  make  terms  with  God  and  to  banter  him. 
upon  the  conditions,  coupled  with  the  respite — the 
temporary  relief  found  in  the  removal  of  the  plague — 
are  manifestly  the  causes  and  modes  in  this  case  of  his 
hardening  his  own  heart. 

Next  is  the  plague  of  murrain — a  terrible  loss  of  their 
cattle.  In  the  antecedent  threatening  of  this  plague, 
Moses  said  to  Pharaoh,  "The  Lord  will  sever  between 
the  cattle  of  Israel  and  the  cattle  of  Egypt :  there  shall 
nothing  die  of  all  that  belongs  to  Israel."  So  it  was; 
for  we  read — "Pharaoh  sent  [i.  e.  to  inquire]  and  lo! 
not  one  of  the  cattle  of  the  Israelites  was  dead.  And 
the  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  hardened,  and  he  did  not  let 
the  people  go"  (9:  1-7).  This  discrimination  gave  a 
keener  edge  to  the  plague;  it  cut  the  deeper;  but  in  the 
result  it  only  maddened  him  the  more.  It  showed 
most  clearly  that  God's  hand  was  in  these  plagues  and 
that  he  was  on  the  side  of  Israel;  but  Pharaoh  was 
committed  to  the  contest  and  seemed  to  have  but  the 
one  ruling  purpose — to  fight  it  out  to  the  bitter  end. 

The  plague  of  boils  was  a  visitation  of  physical  suf- 
fering, perhaps  somewhat  adapted  to  make  a  fretful 
man  irritable.  The  narrative  notes  the  circumstance 
that  the  magicians  were  completely  broken  down  by 
this  plague:  "They  could  not  stand  before  Moses  be- 
cause of  the  boils,  for  the  boil  was  upon  the  magicians 
and  upon  all  the  Egyptians  [not  upon  the  Israelites]. 
As  to  Pharaoh,  all  human  help  fails  him;  every  man 
among  his  people  seems  to  quail  and  give  up  the  con- 
test ;  yet  his  proud  heart  is  only  the  more  maddened 
and  the  more  determined !  It  is  said,  "  The  Lord  hard- 
ened the  heart  of  Pharaoh  and  he  hearkened  not  unto 
them;"  but  such  mad  infatuation  is  wont  to  appear  in 
depraved  human  souls  without  any  miraculous  in- 
.  liiction  of  hardness  from  the  hand  of  God.  There  is 
not  the  least  occasion  to  assume  any  other  influences 
than  those  of  a  proud,  maddened  human  heart,  working 
out  its  oVvn  obstinate  will  against  God. 

The    hail    with    attendant    thunder    and    lifrlitning 


HISTORY   OF   THE    CASE.  199 

(next  ill  order)  were  fearfully  appalling.  All  EgAqi- 
tian  hearts  seemed  to  quiver  with  terror  under  this  in- 
fliction. Pharaoh  is  brought  (shall  we  say)  to  his 
knees :  he  sends  hastily  for  Moses  and  Aaron  and  says 
to  them:  "I  have  sinned  this  time;  the  Lord  is  right- 
eous and  I  and  my  people  are  wicked."  Truly  this 
seems  hopeful.  For  the  first  time  he  appears  penitent. 
"  Entreat  the  Lord  (for  it  is  enough)  that  there  be  no 
more  mighty  thiinderings  and  hail ;  and  I  will  let  you 
go  and  ye  shall  stay  no  longer."— — This  seems  to  be  a 
final  victory  over  the  proud  heart  and  the  long  time 
inflexible  will  of  Pharaoh.  He  confesses  sin ;  he  begs 
again  for  prayer;  he  promises  to  yield  to  God's  entire 
demand  and  let  the  people  go.  Consequently  the 
plague  was  removed.  "And  when  Pharaoh  saw  that 
the  rain  and  the  hail  and  the  thunder  were  ceased,  he 
sinned  yet  more  and  hardened  his  heart,  he  and  his 
servants." Alas  for  man's  perverse  and  false  na- 
ture— his  proud  heart  and  his  lying  lips!  How  read- 
ily he  relapses  back  into  his  old  and  much -loved  sin 
and  becomes  more  hardened  than  ever!  The  judg- 
ments of  God  extort  confessions  and  tears  and  prayers ; 
but  God's  mercies  let  oft'  this  pressure  and  leave  the 
guilty  soul  to  fly  back  to  its  old  sins  again.  So  it  was 
with  Pharaoh.  God's  mercies,  abused,  worked  out  his 
ruin.  But  it  were  simply  monstrous  to  say  that  this 
showing  of  mercy  is  on  God's  part  a  moral  wrong  and 
that  it  throAvs  over  upon  him  the  moral  responsibility 
of  hardening  the  sinner's  heart.  Yet  it  was  precisely 
in  this  way — perhaps  more  really  and  potently  than  in 
any  other — that  God  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh. 

The  plague  of  locusts  brings  to  view  a  new  gixmp  of 
elements.  Egypt  had  known  something  about  locusts 
before :  so  when  this  scourge  was  announced,  Pharaoh's 
servants  beg  him  to  yield  the  contest.  "  How  long 
shall  this  man  "  [Moses]  " be  a  snare  unto  us?  Let  the 
men  go  that  they  may  serve  the  Lord  their  God. 
Knowest  thou  not  yet  that  Egypt  is  destroyed"?  (10: 

7). Pharaoh  yields  to  their  entreaty  only  so  far  as  to 

send  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  again  try  his  hand  upon 
bantering  with  them  and  with  God  over  the  condi- 
tions. "  Go  serve  the  Lord,  said  he ;  but  u'ho  are  they 
that  shall  go^^f  Moses  answers.  Every  thing  must  go; 
we  with  our  young  and  with  our  old ;  with  sons  and 


200  HARDENING   OF    PHARAOIl's   HEART. 

with  daughters ;  with  flocks  and  with  herds — all,  abso- 
lutely all  must  go. No  indeed,  replies  Pharaoh — with 

what  we  must  take  as  his  royal  oath — with  the  most 
fearful  threat  he  could  make  and  the  most  solemn 
asseveration — he  says,  "'Not  so;  go  ye  that  are  men  and 
serve  the  Lord,  for  that  ye  did  desire."  That  was  all 
ye  asked  at  first :  it  is  the  utmost  I  shall  give !  "And 
they  were  driven  out  of  his  presence."  Pharaoh  is 
thoroughly  mad!  This  allowing  himself  to  banter 
them  as  to  the  terms  of  the  arrangement  helped  him  to 
a  stronger  feeling  of  his  own  importance.  He  seemed 
to  himself  to  be  yet  more  a  king  on  his  throne,  and 

why  should  not  he  dictate  the  conditions  ? Soon  the 

plague  comes,  and  for  the  moment  it  quite  changes  the 
face  oi  affairs.  "  Pharaoh  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron 
in  haste,  and  said  [again] — "  I  have  sinned  against  the 
Lord  your  God  and  against  you.  Now,  therefore,  for- 
give, I  pray  thee,  ni}^  sin  only  this  once,  and  entreat 
the  Lord  your  God  that  ho  may  take  away  from  me 
this  death  only."  Apparently  he  remembers  that  once 
before  he  confessed,  and  more  than  oncT)  has  begged 
their  prayers,  and  more  than  once  has  promised  to  let 
the  people  go.  So  he  labors  to  give  a-  little  more  em- 
phasis to  his  beseechings  this  time  by  confessing  his 
sin  against  Moses,  and  especially  by  the  limitation — 
^\for  this  once'''' — once  more  do  hear  me — this  time  only. 
But  he  has  been  through  this  very  process  once  before ; 
most  of  its  points,  many  times  before;  and  it  is  much 
more  easy  for  him  to  turn  back  upon  every  promise 
and  break  every  most  solemn  vow  than  it  ever  has 
been  before.  It  is  safe  to  predict  that  any  sinner  who 
has  broken  so  many  solemn  vows  of  amendment  will 
never  do  any  thing  better  than  break  vows  when 
God's  mercy  lifts  off  the  plague.  So  Pharaoh's  heart  is 
hardened  yet  again.  The  statement  is — "But  the  Lord 
hardened  Pharaoh's  heart" — yet  the  way  he  did  it, 
here  as  before  (9:  34),  was  by  removing  the  plague;  by 
hearing  his  prayer  for  relief  and  apparently  trusting 
his  sacred  promise  to  let  the  people  go.  This  was  the 
way  and  these  the  agencies  by  which  the  Lord  hard- 
ened Pharaoh's  heart. 

The  plague  of  darkness  is  next  in  order.  Again  Pha- 
raoh sets  himself  to  negotiate  as  to  the  terms.  He  will 
consent  that  not  only  the  men  may  go,  but  their  wives 


HISTORY   OF    THE    CASE.  201 

and  their  little  ones;  hut  their  flocks  must  be  left  behind. 
He  must  have  some  hostages — something  left  in  his 
hands  that  will  bring  his  bondmen  back.  Moses  sa^'s 
No/  we  need  our  ilocks  for  sacrifice;  not  a  hoof  is  to 
be  loft  behind!  Pharaoh  is  more  mad  than  ever:  he 
not  only  drives  Moses  out  from  his  presence,  but  adds — 
"Take  heed  to  thyself;  see  my  face  no  more;  for  in  the 
day  thou  seest  my  face  thou  shalt  die."  In  this  case  it 
is  said — "The  Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart";  but 
these  terrible  uprisings  and  outbursts  of  madness  well 
up  from  the  depths  of  a  depraved  sinner's  soul.  No  su- 
pernatural miracle  of  divine  hardening  is  at  all  needful 
to  create  them.  Pharaoh  is  too  proud  a  king  to  bear 
such  confrontings  of  his  Avill.  Shall  he  jdeld  to  such  a 
man  as  Moses,  or  even  to  the  God  of  Moses?  Not  he. 
It  stirs  up  all  the  elements  of  his  pride  and  madness 
to  have  his  propositions  of  compromise  so  peremptorily 
rejected.  It  is  this  in  special  that  works  in  this  present 
case  to  the  hardening  of  his  heart. 

There  remains  but  one  more  j^lague — that  awful 
night  on  Egypt  when  the  wailing  cry  rang  out  over 
all  the  land,  "  for  there  was  not  a  house  where  there  was 
not  one  dead"!  and  that  the  first-born /  Under  this, 
Pharaoh  for  the  time  really  broke  down;  he  called  for 
Moses  and  Aaron  by  night  and  said — Go  ye  and  all  your 
people,  and  take  your  flocks  and  herds  as  ye  have  said 
and  be  gone,  and  bless  me  also."  This  conceded  every- 
thing, closing  off  with  begging  their  blessing  upon  his 
consciously  guilty  soul!  The  Egyptians  too  were  all 
astir;  "they  were  urgent  upon  the  people  to  send  them 
out  of  the  land  in  haste;  for  they  said — "We  be  all 

dead  men."     And  the  people  of  Israel  do  really  go. 

But  strange  as  it  may  seem,  when  "it  was  told  the  king 
of  Egypt  that  the  people  had  really  gone,  then  the 
heart  of  Pharaoh  and  of  his  servants  was  turned  against 
the  people  and  they  said — "Why  have  we  done  this 
tliat  we  have  lot  Israel  go  from  serving  us  "  ? Forth- 
with armed  chariots  are  made  ready  and  are  off  in  hot 
pursuit; — till  they  find  themselves  battling  the  mighty 
waves  of  the  Rod  Sea,  quailing  before  the  awful  eye  and 

under  the  uplifted  arm  of  the  Almighty! This  last 

instance  of  hardening  the  heart  seems  most  like  pure 
and  simple  infatuation.  No  doubt  Pharaoh  and  his 
servants  had  a  fresh  sense  of  what  they  had  lost  in 


202  HARDENING    OF    PHARAOIl's   HEART. 

letting  go  such  a  host  of  hard  working  bondmen.  No 
doubt  they  also  felt  the  mortification  of  having  been 
worsted  in  the  long-fought  struggle  over  this  national 
question  of  letting  the  people  go ;  but  after  all  they  had 
seen  and  felt  of  God's  power  to  curse  and  to  plague  and 
to  crush  them,  nothing  but  the  most  senseless  infatua- 
tion can  rationally  account  for  this  last  desperate  dash 
upon  Israel  with  the  armed  force  of  the  nation.  Yet  no 
one  will  say  that  such  infatuation  does  not  often  appear 
in  the  history  of  human  sinning.  In  his  own  sphere 
many  a  poor  sinner  is  just  as  madly  infatuated  as  Pha- 
raoh and  his  people  were — is  altogether  as  senseless,  as 
void  of  wisdom,  as  reckless  of  the  hot  thunderbolts  of 
the  Almighty  !  It  is  an  awfully  sad  fact,  a  most  humili- 
ating confession  as  to  the  manner  of  human  sinning ; 
but  it  is  only  too  true !  There  is  no  need  of  assuming 
anv  direct  supernatural  divine  interposition  to  jDroduce 
it."' 

Nothing  more  seems  necessary  to  complete  the  argu- 
ment from  the  history  of  the  case  unless  it  be  to  sug- 
gest that  when  Ave  have  accounted  for  the  hardening 
of  Pharaoh's  heart  satisfactorily  on  the  one  principle — 
the  well-known  proclivities  and  activities  of  a  proud, 
stubborn  human  heart,  it  is  entirely  unphilosophical  to 
bring  in  another  principle,  viz.  the  miraculous,  imme- 
diate, direct  action  of  Almighty  Power.  When  we  have 
proved  the  former  power  adequate  to  produce  all  the 
results,  we  have  virtually  precluded  the  latter.  There 
can  be  no  reason  Avhatever  for  assuming  a  joint,  co-ordi- 
nate action  of  both  the  natural  laws  of  the  human  mind 
and  of  the  supernatural  power  of  God.  If  the  former 
suffices,  the  latter  is  uncalled  for.  Miracles  are  never 
to  be  assumed  where  non-miraculous  agency  is  fully  ad- 
equate. 

If  it  be  still  argued  that  the  very  words  declare,  "  God 
hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,"  the  answer  is:  God  is  said 
to  do  what  he  foresees  will  be  done  by  others  and  done 
under  such  arrangements  of  his  providence  as  make  it 
130ssible  and  morally  certain  that  they  will  do  it.  Jos- 
eph said  to  his  brethren  (Gen.  45 :  5,  7,  8),  "  Be  not 
angry  with  yourselves  that  ye  sold  me  hither,  for  God 
did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life.  So  now  it  was 
not  you  that  sent  mo  hither  but  God."  Yet  it  is  simply 
impious  to  put  the  sin  of  selling  Joseph  into  Egypt  over 


god's  purpose  and  agency.  203 

upon  God.  God  did  it  only  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
he  hardened  Pharaoh's  lieart.  lie  had  a  purpose  to  sub- 
serve by  means  of  the  sin  of  Joseph's  brethren;  and  he 
did  no  doubt  permit  such  circumstances  to  occur  in  his 
providence  as  made  that  sin  possible  and  as  resulted  in 
their  sinning  and  in  the  remote  consequences  which 
God  anticipated. 

It  is  of  no  particular  use  for  us  to  find  fault  with  the 
way  in  which  the  Scriptures  speak  of  God's  hand  in  the 
existence  of  sin.  There  is  no  special  mystery  about  it. 
It  certainly  does  not  involve  the  least  moral  obliquity 
on  God's  part;  and  it  is  therefore  every  way  prudent 
and  wise  to  interpret  such  language  in  harmony  with 
the  common  sense  of  the  case  and  with  the  well-known 
character  of  God. 

2.  We  proceed  to  notice  what  is  said  of  God''s  puiyose 
in  the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart.  It  is  the  more  im- 
portant to  speak  of  tliis  because  an  extreme  view  is 
sometimes  taken  of  the  central  passage  (Ex.  9 :  14-16)  ; 
"And  in  very  deed  for  this  cause  have  I  raised  thee  up 
for  to  show  in  thee  my  power,"  etc.  The  extreme  view 
referred  to  is  that  God  made  Pharaoh  a  great  king,  put 
him  on  a  high  throne,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  dis- 
playing his  own  great  power  in  his  sin  and  punish- 
ment. 

By  consent  of  Hebrew  lexicographers,  the  verb  trans- 
lated "  raised  iip  "  means  in  this  case  preserved  alive — have 
caused  thee  to  stand  or  continue  among  the  living.  The 
previous  context  moreover  seems  not  to  be  quite  accu- 
rately put  in  our  English  version.  It  should  rather  be 
thus,  beginning  with  v.  14 :  "  For  at  this  very  time  I 
am  sending  [present  tense]  all  my  plagues  to  thine 
heart  and  upon  thy  servants  and  w^on  thy  people  that 
thou  mayest  know  that  there  is  none  like  me  in  all  the 
eartli.  For  I  might  now  have  stretched  out  my  hand 
and  smitten  thee  and  thy  people  Avith  pestilence  [/.  e. 
might  have  smitten  you  all  dead],  and  thou  wouldest 
have  been  cut  off  from  the  earth.  But  truly  for  this 
very  reason  have  I  preserved  thee  alive  to  the  end  tliat 
thou  mightest  show  forth  [make  others  see]  my  power, 
and  for  the  sake  of  proclaiming  my  name  in  all  the 
earth."  To  the  same  purport  are  the  words  (Ex.  14  : 
17,  18)  with  reference  to  the  final  destruction  of  Plia- 


204  HARDENING   OF   PHARAOH's   HEART. 

raoh's  host ;  "  And  I  will  get  me  honor  upon  Pharaoh 
and  upon  all  his  host,  etc.  And  the  Egyptians  shall 
know  that  I  am  the  Lord  when  I  shall  have  gotten  me 
honor  upon  Pharaoh  and  upon  his  chariots  and  his 
horsemen."  The  great  thought  is  that  God  turns  to  ac- 
count the  sin  and  madness  of  Pharaoh  for  the  purpose 
of  making  known  his  power  to  save  his  people  and  to 
crush  their  foes.  He  shapes  his  ways  of  providence  to 
this  end.  He  might  have  swept  off  Pharaoh  and  his 
people  with  the  same  pestilence  which  destroyed  so 
many  of  their  cattle ;  but  he  had  a  wiser  purpose.  He 
could  make  a  better  use  of  their  sin  and  of  their  life ; 
so  he  spared  them  till  he  had  wrought  all  his  wonders 
upon  Egypt  before  all  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  and 
then  he  let  them  plunge  into  the  mighty  waves  of  the 

Red  Sea  and  make  their  grave  tliere ! Now  if  wicked 

men  ivill  sin,  who  shall  object  against  God  that  he  makes 
the  best  possible  use  of  it  ?  Why  may  he  not  reveal 
his  power  thereby  and  exalt  his  name  as  one  " mighty 
to  save  "  or  to  destroy  ? 

3.  It  only  remains  to  ask — What  has  God  taught  us 
of  his  character  as  bearing  on  the  question  before  us, 
and  of  his  agencies  in  the  existence  of  sin? 

Here  few  words  ought  to  suffice.  Nothing  can  be 
more  plain  than  the  revelations  of  scripture  concerning 
God's  character  as  infinitely  pure  and  holy — as  a  Being 
who  not  only  can  never  sin  himself  but  can  never  be 
pleased  to  have  others  sin,  and  above  all  can  never  put 
forth  his  power  to  make  them  sin.  God  can  not  be 
tempted  with  evil,  ^'neither  tempfeth  he  any  man"  (Jam. 
1 :  13).  When  he  declares  so  solemnly  and  so  tenderly: 
"0  do  not  that  abominable  thing  which  I  hate"!  shall 
it  still  be  said — But  he  puts  men  to  sinning;  pushes 
them  on  in  their  sin ;  inclines  their  heart  to  sin  and 
hardens  them  to  more  and  guiltier  sinning?     Never! 

Shall  it  be  claimed  that  with  one  hand  God  gives  his 
Spirit  to  impress  the  truth  on  human  souls  unto  their 
salvation  ;  and  with  the  other  sends  his  Spirit  to  aug- 
ment the  forces  of  temptation  and  to  harden  men's 
hearts  unto  their  damnation  ?  Shall  the  same  fountain 
send  forth  both  sweet  water  and  bitter  ?  Shall  the  same 
God  renew  some  human  hearts  unto  holiness  and 
harden  other  human  hearts  in  sin — all  by  the  same 
direct  and  similarly  purposed  agency,  each  work  being 


ARGUMENT    FROM    COD'S    CHARACTER,  205 

clone  under  the   same   impulses  of  infinite  love?- 


Surely  there  must  be  some  egregious  misconception  of 
God's  character  involved  in  supposing  him  capable  of 
acts  so  fvmdamentally  opposite  and  incompatible — not 
to  say,  in  supposing  him  capable  of  tempting  men 
into  more  and  greater  sin ! 

The  fact  that  He  wisely  and  mightily  over-rules  sin 
to  bring  good  forth  from  it  should  never  be  construed 
to  imply  that  he  abhors  sin  any  the  less  because  he  can 
extort  some  good  results  from  its  existence. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  PASSOVER. 

The  first  of  the  three  great  annual  festivals  of  Israel, 
and  the  one  which  above  all  was  commemorative  in 
character — a  memorial  service— was  the  Passover.  It 
Avas  designed  to  commemorate  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
from  Egyptian  bondage — the  great  birth-hour  of  the 
Hebrew  nation.  Especially  did  it  commemorate  the 
scenes  of  that  last  eventful  night  when  God  caused  his 
angel  of  death  to  jmss  over  the  houses  of  Israel  as  he 
went  through  the  land  of  Egypt,  smiting  the  first-born 
in  all  her  households. The  central  thing  in  this  in- 
stitution was  the  slaying  of  the  paschal  lamb — one  for 
each  household — and  the  sprinkling  of  its  blood  upon 
the  two  side-posts,  and  upon  the  lintel  over  the  door  of 
each  house.  This  sprinkled  blood,  seen  by  the  destroy- 
ing angel,  became  his  authority  for  jmssing  over  and  by 
that  house,  sparing  its  first-born,  while  he  sjjared  not 
one  first-born  of  all  the  families  of  Egypt. 

There  were  numerous  collateral  points  in  the  insti- 
tution, designed  to  fill  it  out  more  completely  aud 
make  it  most  impressively  a  memorial  service  for  all 
the  future  generations  of  Israel ;  e.  g.  the  following  : 

As  to  time;  it  Avas  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month 
Abib,  corresponding  to  our  March  or  April — the  night 
next  following  this  day  being  that  of  the  last  plague 
on  Egyi-)t — the  night  Avhich  l>roke  their  yoke  of  bond- 


206  THE    PASSOVER. 

a.2;e.  Hencefortli,  this  was  made  the  first  montli  in  the 
Hebrew  year. 

The  pasclial  lambs  were  taken  by  households.  If  the 
family  was  large,  it  stood  by  itself;  if  too  small  to  con- 
sume one  lamb,  then  two  or  more  were  united,  the  aim 
being  to  have  the  flesh  of  the  lamb  eaten  entire.  If 
any  thing  remained,  it  was  to  be  burned  in  the  morn- 
ing.— It  was  to  be  roasted  with  fire,  not  eaten  raw,  and 
not  boiled  in  water.  (Ex.  12:  8,  9.)  The  arrangement 
by  families  looked  toward  the  great  fact  of  the  original 
event — that  Egypt  was  smitten  by  families— there  being 
not  a  house  in  which  there  was  not  one  dead.  Its  in- 
fluence must  have  been  precious  through  all  the  ages 
of  Hebrew  history  in  cementing  family  ties  and  sancti- 
fying the  family  relation. 

It  Avas  eaten  with  unleavened  bread — the  rule  on  this 
point  being  most  stringent.  No  leaven  might  be  eaten 
or  even  seen  in  their  households  during  the  entire  feast 
of  seven  days.  So  prominent  was  this  fact  that  the 
feast  was  called  interchangeably,  "  The  Passover,"  or 
"The  feast  of  unleavened  bread." The  original  de- 
sign of  this  prohibition  seems  to  have  been  commem- 
orative— the  great  haste  of  their  departure  precluding 
the  preparation  of  leavened  bread  for  their  journey. 
The  allusions  to  "leaven"  in  the  New  Testament  (Matt. 
16:  6,  11,  12,  and  Luke  12  and  1  Cor.  5:  7)  indicate 
that  leaven  was  associated  with  "  pride  that  pufieth 
up,"  and  is  quite  the  opposite  of  that  simplicity  and 
purity  of  heart  which  God  loves. 

It  was  also  eaten  with  bitter  herbs,  the  vegetable 
condiments  of  the  supper  suggesting  the  bitterness  of 
that  bondage  in  Egypt  out  of  which  they  came   (Ex. 

12:  8). Yet  another  suggestive  memorial  usage  was 

to  eat  with  loins  girt,  shoes  on,  staff  in  hand  (Ex.  12  : 
11),  and  in  haste,  as  men  ready  to  start  a  journey  at 
a  moment's  warning. 

The  feast  continued  seven  days  (Ex.  12  :  14-20),  be- 
ginning with  the  evening  of  the  paschal  supper.  The 
first  day  and  the  last  were  specially  sacred,  all  labor 
being  prohibited  except  that  which  was  necessary  in 

preparing  their  food  (Ex.   12 :  16). The    object    in 

allowing  so  much  time  was  to  provide  for  extended  re- 
ligious ceremonial  services  and  for  wholesome  social 
communion,  not  to    sav  also  for  cultivating  national 


THE    PASSOVER.  207 

sympathy  and  patriotism  As  all  the  males  from  every 
tribe  in  the  whole  land  were  required  to  come  together 
on  this  great  feast  to  the  one  place  Avhich  God  should  ap- 
point, the  convocation  was  vast,  and  its  social  and  relig- 
ious influences  were  naturally  both  wholesome  and  great. 

In  the  original  institution  it  was  specially  enjoined 
that  the  history  and  purpose  of  this  great  festival 
should  be  made  known  to  their  children.  "  And  thou  shalt 
show  thy  son  in  that  day,  saying.  This  is  done  because 
of  that  which  the  Lord  did  unto  me  when  I  came  forth 
out  of  Egypt"  (Ex.  13:  7).  "And  it  shall  be  when 
thy  son  asketh  thee  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  is 
this?  that  thou  shalt  say  unto  him,  By  strength  of 
hand  the  Lord  brought  us  out  from  Eg3'pt,  from  the 
house  of  bondage,"  etc.  (Ex.  13 :  14,  15.)  Plow  natu- 
rally would  this  wonderful  story  thrill  the  young  hearts 
around  the  paschal  board!  How  swiftly  would  the 
hours  fly  away  while  fathers  rehearsed  to  sons  the  great 
national  traditions,  or  read  from  the  book  of  the  laAV 
the  narrative,  and  sung  again  and  again  the  song  of 
triumph  over  Pharaoh  fallen  with  which  this  story 
closes!  Jewish  history  has  it  that  in  ancient  times  it 
became  the  custom,  after  the  paschal  table  was  fully 
spread  and  the  family  had  taken  their  places  about  it, 
for  the  servant  suddenly  to  remove  the  prepared  food 
away.  Then  when  the  hungry  children  opened  their 
eyes  Avide  and  eager  lips  cried  out — What  cloes  this 
mean?  the  head  of  the  household  rehearsed  slowly  and 
solemnly  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  the  feast,  with 
the  history  of  its  original  institution;  then  when  the 
curiosity  of  the  little  ones  had  been  both  aroused  and 
enlightened,  the  provisions  were  replaced  and  partaken 
with  a  freshened  sense  of  the  grand  significance  of  the 
Passover. 

Closely  associated  with  this  festival  and  fraught  Avith 
solemn  significance  as  a  memorial  institution  was  the 
consecration  to  God  of  cdl  first-born  males.,  both  the  first- 
born of  man  and  the  first-born  of  beast  (Ex.  13  :  11-16). 
Of  the  lower  animals  the  first-born  males,  if  without 
l)lemish  and  if  suitable  for  sacrifice,  Avere  to  be  ofl'ered 
in  sacrifice  to  the  Lord.  If  not  suitable  (e.  g.  the  ass), 
it  nnist  be  redeemed  Avith  a  lamb — in  which  case  the 
lamb  became  the  sacrifice,  and  the  ass  might  be  used  at 
the  pleasure  of  its  OAvner. 
10 


208  THE    PASSOVER, 

In  the  family,  the  first-born  son  was  consecrated  to 
God.  In  carrying  out  this  principle,  a  substitution  was 
made  by  which  the  entire  tribe  of  Levi  were  put  in  the 
place  of  all  the  first-born  males  of  Israel  and  held  to  be 
specially  consecrated  to  God.  The  language  (Num.  8  : 
14-18)  is — "Thou  shalt  separate  the  Levites  from  among 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  the  Levites  shall  be  mine. 
They  are  wholly  given  unto  me  from  among  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  instead  of  such  as  open  every  womb,  even 
instead  of  the  first-born  of  all  the  children  of  Israel, 
have  I  taken  them  unto  me.  For  all  the  first-born  of 
Israel  are  mine  both  man  and  beast :  on  the  day  that  I 
smote  every  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  I  sanctified 
them  for  myself.  And  I  have  taken  the  Levites /or  [in 
the  place  of]  all  the  first-born  of  the  children  of  Israel." 

The  law  prescribed  the  rites  by  which  the  Levites 

were  set  apart  (Num.  8  :  5-15). 

The  original  institution  of  the  Passover  is  rehearsed 
quite  fully  in  Ex.  12  and  13 ;  is  referred  to  again  briefly 
Ex.  23:  15,  and  34 :  18-20 — this  last  giving  emphasis  to 
the  consecration  of  the  first-born.  A  brief  notice  of  it 
appears  Lev.  23 :  5-8 ;  the  accompanying  ritual  services 
and  offerings  may  be  seen  in  Num.  28 :  16-25 ;  and  a 
brief  resume  of  the  institution  as  given  in  Exodus  12 
and  13  stands  in  Deut.  16  :  1-8. 

The  Paschal  Lamb  with  its  sprinkled  blood  became  a 
pertinent  and  impressive  illustration  of  the  central 
idea  of  the  atonement  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  ele- 
ments common  to  both  being — the  shedding  of  blood — 
the  blood  of  an  innocent  one — and  especially  the  pass- 
ing over  the  sprinkled  souls  by  the  destroying  angel, 
while  the  unsprinkled  were  smitten  by  God's  angel  of 

death. It  is   under  the  force  of  these  and  similar 

analogies  that  Paul  speaks  of  Christ  as  being  "our 
Passover" — [rather  our  Paschal  Lamb],  and  as  "sacri- 
ficed for  us"  (1  Cor.  5  :  6-8).  Pushing  the  analogies  of 
the  Passover  feast  one  step  further,  he  thinks  of  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  leaven;  then  of  leaven  as  naturally  dif- 
fusive, and  so  as  representing  the  pernicious  influence 
of  bad  men  in  the  Christian  church;  and  therefore  ex- 
horts the  Corinthian  church  to  cast  out  the  man  guilty 

of  incest  lest  his  influence  work  like  leaven. Those 

remoter  analogies  were  forcible  to  persons  familiar  with 


THE  LONG  ROUTE  TO  CANAAN.  209 

the  feast  and  its  usages ;  yet  we  can  not  say  they  were 
properly  involved  in  the  typical  significance  of  the 
Passover.  The  easy  and  natural  manner  in  which 
Paul  speaks  of  Christ  as  our  Paschal  Lamb  shows  that 
so  far  the  resemblance  was  a  well  recognized  fact, 
wrought  into  the  current  views  of  inspired  men,  not  to 
say,  of  the  church  of  that  age.  Without  the  shedding 
of  blood  there  is  no  remission ;  with  it  and  by  means* 
of  it  remission  comes  to  the  guilty,  accepting  it  with 
penitence  and  Avith  faith. 

The  long  route  to  Canaan. 

Scarcely  had  the  Hebrew  hosts  set  forth  for  Goshen 
before  the  question  of  the  route  to  Canaan  must  be  de- 
termined. That  Canaan  was  their  destination  was 
settled  long  before.  The  first  call  of  Abram  designated 
the  land  of  Canaan  as  the  home  of  his  posterity. 
Every  renewal  of  that  original  promise  specified  the 
country  which  was  given  them.  Now,  for  the  course  of 
their  journey,  the  route  along  the  south-eastern  shore 
of  the  Mediterranean  through  the  land  of  the  Phil- 
istines was  short  and  direct ;  but  it  must  have  brought 
them  i^to  contact  inevitably  with  those  powerful 
tribes  from  whom  their  descendants  suffered  so  much 
during  all  the  centuries  intervening  between  Joshua 
and  David.  Just  emerging  from  a  bondage  which 
spanned  several  generations  and  which  had  emascu- 
lated them  of  all  national  courage  and  spirit — but 
slightly  trained  moreover  yet  into  the  moral  heroism 
which  comes  of  living  faith  in  God — they  Avere  in  no 
condition  to  encounter  such  enemies.  The  record  puts 
these  points  briefly :  "  God  led  them  not  through  the 
way  of  the  land  of  the  Philistines  although  that  was 
near,  for  God  said — Lest  peradventure  the  people  repent 
when  they  see  war  and  they  return  to  Egypt ;  but  God 
led  the  people  about  through  the  way  of  the  wilderness 
of  the  Red  Sea"*  (Ex.  13:1?,  18).  the  long  circuitous 
route  is  therefore  chosen. Wheeling  suddenly  to  tlio 

*■  That  this  fear  was  by  no  means  groundless  appears  in  the  panic 
which  smote  their  hearts  when  tliey  saw  Pharaoli's  host  pursuing 
(P"x._14::  10-12),  and  also  in  the  unbelieving  fear  manifested  on 
hearing  the  report  of  ton  of  the  spies  returned  from  their  forty  days 
traversing  of  Canaan  (Num.  13:  28,  31-o8,  and  14:  1-4). 


210  THE    MARCH   AND   THE   PURSUIT. 

right  they  put  their  faces  squarely  toward  the  Red  Sea, 
beyond  which  lay  the  vast  Arabian  desert.  Ultimately 
they  entered  Canaan  on  its  Eastern  and  not  its 
Western  side — the  quarter  most  remote  from  the  Phil- 
istines.  In  this  wilderness  route  there  were  great 

purposes  to  be  accomplished  in  the  moral  training  and 
culture  of  the  nation  and  in  the  manifestations  of  the 
God  of  their  fathers  before  their  eyes.  That  way  lay 
the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  which  God  provided  as  the 
burial-place  for  the  proud  hosts  of  Pharaoh :  that  way 
lay  Sinai — those  grand  mountain  cliffs  which  God  was 
to  shake  with  his  thunders  and  invest  with  the  smoke 
and  the  flame  of  his  glorious  presence  that  the  law 
might  be  written  in  letters  of  fire  upon  the  souls  of  the 
whole  people  :  that  way  lay  the  long,  breadless,  water- 
less route  of  almost  forty  years  wandering  and  sojourn- 
ing in  which  the  Lord  fed  the  people  with  angels' 
food — bread  from  the  lower  heavens — the  manna  of 
the  desert,  and  with  water  once  and  again  from 
smitten  rocks,  flowing  in  dry  places  as  a  river — that 
they  might  learn  the  power  and  the  love  of  their  God : — 
that  way  lay  also  their  long  tuition  and  training  into 
their  religious  system — a  wonderful  arrangement  of 
sacrifices  and  ordinances  for  Avhich  the  life-time  of  a 
generation  was  scarcely  too  long.  All  these  great  re- 
sults and  yet  others  were  contemplated  and  provided 
for  in  this  choice  of  the  wilderness  route  as  their  way  to 
the  land  of  Canaan. 

The  March  and  the  Pursvit. 

The  night  of  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first"  month 
was  one  to  be  long  and  gratefully  remembered.  Little 
sleep  Avas  there  in  the  homes  of  Israel  or  in  the  dwell- 
ings of  Egypt  on  that  eventful  night.  The  feast  of  the 
Paschal  Lamb  beginning  with  the  early  evening ;  the 
dread  visitation  uj^on  Egypt  of  the  angel  of  death  at 
midnight;  the  hasty  preparation  for  their  journey 
throughout  all  the  families  of  the  children  of  Israel; 
the  gathering  and  mustering  of  their  hosts  for  the 
march  of  the  next  day : — such  was  the  work  of  that 
memorable  night.  The  stages  of  their  march  are 
definitely  chronicled;  one  day  from  Rameses  to  Succoth 
(Ex.  12:  37);  another  day  from  Succoth  to  Ethanj,  "in 


THE    PILLAR   OF    CLOUD   AND    FIRE.  211 

the  edge  of  the  wilderness"  (Ex.  13 :  20) ;  another  from 
Etham  to  Pi-hahiroth  between  Migdol  and  the  Sea  over 
against  Baal-zephon  (Ex.  14:  2).  The  same  stages  ap- 
pear in  the  official  record  (Num.  33 :  3-8)  in  which  it  is 
added  that  "  Israel  went  out  with  a-  high  hand  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  Egyptians,  for  the  Egyptians  buried  all 
their  first-born  whom  the  Lord  had  smitten  among 
them ;  upon  the  gods  also,  the  Lord  executed  judg- 
ment "  ^ — so  that  the  shock  of  such  and  so  much  death 
and  their  funeral  services  for  the  dead  diverted  their 
attention  from  Israel  and  detained  them  from  the  pur- 
suit for  a  season,  giving  the  slow  moving  hosts  of  Israel 
time  to  reach  the  Red  Sea  before  Pharaoh's  swift  chariots 
could  overtake  them. 

The  guuUug  nilar  of  cloud  and  fire. 

At  this  stage  commenced  that  striking  but  most 
i:)rccious  manifestation  of  God's  guiding  presence,  of 
which  the  first  record  is — "  And  the  Lord  went  before 
them  in  a  pillar  of  a  cloud  to  lead  them  the  way;  and 
by  night  in  a  pillar  of  fire  to  give  them  light ;  to  go  by 
day  and  night.  He  took  not  away  the  pillar  of  the 
cloud  by  dav,  nor  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  from 
before  the  people  (Ex.  13 :  21,  22).  If  the  order  of  the 
narration  corresponds  in  time  to  the  order  of  the  events, 
this  manifestation  of  the  pillar  commenced  on  the  sec- 
ond day  of  their  march  as  they  moved  from  Succoth  to 
Etham  ''in  the  edge  of  the  wilderness."  All  through 
those  otherwise  dreary  days  of  their  marching  and  halt- 
ing for  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  this  pillar  was  be- 
fore them,  appearing  as  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  but  of 
fire  by  night — the  symbol  of  Jehovah's  presence  in  all 
their  way,  leading  their  path  as  they  journeyed;  mark- 
ing  their  place  of  rest  Avhere  they  were  to  halt  and 

pitch  their  tents. Subsequent  allusions  to  this  pillar 

of  cloud  or  of  fire  are  somewhat  numerous,  e.  g.  Ex.  29 : 
43 — showing  that  in  this  pillar  God  met  his  people  and 
sanctified  the  tabernacle  with  his  glory:  Ex.  40:  34-38, 

"^Connecting  tlie  fact  given  in  profane  history  that  Egypt  wor- 
phiped  the  ox  and  the  cow  as  gods,  with  the  fact  of  sacred  history — 
that  all  the  first-born  of  their  cattle  fell  in  this  fearful  plague,  we 
shall  understand  how  signally  God  "executed  judgment  on  Egypt's 
gods." 


212  THE   PILLAR   OF    CLOUD   AND    FIRE. 

setting  forth  that  when  the  tahernacle  was  in  readiness, 
the  cloud  covered  it  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the 
most  holy  place,  making  that  henceforth  his  special  lo- 
cality. Yet  the  pillar  of  cloud  was  lifted  above  the 
tabernacle  as  the  signal  for  striking  tents  and  moving 
forward.  Its  service  as  the  signal  for  marching  or  rest- 
ing is  detailed  minutely  and  beautifully  in  Num.  9  : 
15-23;  and  the  prayer  of  Moses  on  these  special  occa- 
sions in  Num.  10 :  35,  36.  When  the  ark  set  forward — 
"Rise  up,  Lord,  and  let  thine  enemies  be  scattered  and 
let  them  that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee  " ;  and  when  it 
rested — "  Return,  0  Lord,  unto  the  many  thousands  of 

Israel." Other  allusions  may  be  seen,  Deut.  1 :  23  and 

Neh.  9 :  12,  19  and  Ps.  78 :  14,  and  99 :  7,  and  105 :  39 
and  Isa.  4  :  5. 

Remarkably  when  the  Egyptian  chariots  and  horse- 
men drew  near  toward  evening  of  the  third  days'  march, 
"the  Angel  of  God,  [embosomed  in  this  pillar]  which 
had  been  in  front  of  their  host,  removed  and  went  be- 
hind them" — putting  himself  thus  between  the  men  of 
Israel  and  the  armed  hosts  of  Egypt — "And  it  was  a 
cloud  and  darkness  to  Egypt's  hosts  but  gave  light  by 
night  to  Israel,  so  that  the  one  came  not  near  the  other 
all  night,"  Thus  the  angel  of  God  in  the  cloud  became, 
not  their  guide  only,  but  their  jDrotector,  their  guardian 
angel.  If  there  were  godly  men  in  Israel  who  like  Moses 
could  appreciate  the  salvation  and  the  glory  of  Jehovah's 
presence,  their  hearts  must  have  been  a  thousand  times 
gladdened,  and  inspired  with  ixexpressible  hope  and 
consolation  as  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  in  their  other- 
wise deepest  darkness  to  see  the  pillai-  of  fire  ever  near, 
the  witness  that  God  was  near  in  all  their  wander- 
ings. But  especially  there  with  the  Red  Sea  before  them 
and  the  chariots  of  Pharaoh  behind — how  safe  they 
might  have  felt !  for  who  is  not  safe  under  the  wing  of 
God's  pillar  of  fire  ? 

When  Pharaoh's  chariots  and  horsemen  came  in  sight, 
rapidly  gaining  upon  the  slow-marching  footmen  of 
Israel's  host,  the  latter  were  sore  afraid  and  cried  unto 
the  Lord  (Ex.  14:  10).  This  crying  to  the  Lord  would 
have  been  all  right  if  only  they  had  believed  and  trusted ; 
for  then  they  would  have  honored  their  great  Protector, 
and  they  would  not  have  chided  Moses  for  leading  them 
out  of  Egypt,  nor  would  they  have  thought  so  readily 


PHARAOH    IN    THE    RED   SEA.  213 

of  turning  back  to  their  cruel  bondage. With  touch- 
ing forbearance  and  grace  the  reply  of  Moses  (from  God) 
breathes  scarce  a  whisper  of  rebuke  :  "  Fear  j^e  not;  stand 
still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  which  he  will 
show  to  you  to  day ;  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye  have 
seen  to  day,  ye  shall  see  no  more  again  forever.  The 
Lord  shall  fight  for  you,  and  ye  shall  hold  your  peace." 
The  Lord  did  not  propose  to  bring  the  people  into  direct 
battle  with  the  trained  hosts  of  Egypt  at  this  early  stage 
of  their  new  life  of  freedom.  They  were  in  no  manner 
prepared  for  the  conflict  of  arms.  This  time  the  Lord 
alone  would  go  into  battle  against  Egypt.  Israel  might 
stand  still  and  look  on  ! 

•  Moses,  it  seems,  cried  unto  God ;  but  Avhether  because 
there  was  some  implied  unbelief  in  it,  or  because  there 
was  no  time  and  no  further  need  of  praj^er,  the  Lord 
answered — "Why  criest  thou  unto  me?  Speah  unto  the 
people  that  they  go  forivard  '7     The  time  for  action  and  for 

placid  trust  in  God  had  fully  come. But  that  deep 

Red  Sea  lies  across  thy  path ;  lift  up  thy  rod  and  stretch 
out  thy  hand  over  the  sea  and  divide  it ;  let  Israel  march 
through  it  dry-shod.  The  uplifted  rod  of  jMoses  was  the 
signal  for  the  uplifted  hand  of  God  by  Avhich  he  forced 
the  waters  from  their  channel  by  a  strong  .east.wind 
all  that  night  and  made  the  bed  of  the  sea  dry  for  his 
people  to  pass  over.  The  miracle  in  this  case  was  ex- 
erted upon  the  wind  rather  than  upon  the  water.  God 
caused  the  east  wind  to  blow  strongly  just  when  its  effect 
was  needed  for  the  end  in  view.  He  turned  the  wind 
and  hurried  the  waters  back  upon  the  Egyptians  just 
when  the  opportune  moment  came  for  burying  them 
beneath  its  mountain  Avaves.  If  his  wisdom  had  chosen 
to  do  so,  his  Almighty  hand  could  just  as  easily  have 
annihilated  so  much  of  the  Red  Sea  waters  as  lay  in 
the  wa}'-  of  his  people  till  they  had  passed  its  dry  bed, 
and  then  have  reproduced  them  for  the  destruction  of 
Egypt.  But  in  his  mighty  works  God  does  not  seek 
display  but  rather  results,  and  these  ordinarily  by  using 
cnly  the  least  amount  of  supernatural  ageney'^  Avhich 
will  suffice.  It  is  of  little  account  to  attcm})t  to  fix  the 
law  of  miracles,  yet  we  may  not  infrequently  observe 
the  same  method  as  is  apparent  here. 

The  historian  alludes  to  yet  another  element  of  divine 
agenc3^     In  the  morning  watch  as  the  host  of  Pharaoh 


214  PHARAOH   IN   THE    RED   SEA. 

were  pressing  on  througli  the  very  midst  of  the  bed  of 
the  sea,  "  the  Lord  looked  unto  the  host  of  the  Egyptians 
through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  cloud,  and  troubled  [rather 
confounded,  smote  with  panic]  their  marching  hosts ; 
and  took  oflf  their  chariot  wheels  that  they  drave  them 
heavily;  so  that  the  Egyptians  said — Let  us  flee  from 
the  face  of  Israel,  for  Jehovah  figheth  for  them  against 

the  Egyptians." It  may  not  be  j^ossible,  certainly  is 

not  specially  important,  to  draw  the  line  here  between 
the  natural  and  the  supernatural.  We  may  suppose 
that  the  pillar  of  cloud  which  had  been  darkness  to  them 
blazed  forth  fearfully  in  their  faces,  appalling  the  stout- 
est hearts  with  fear;  that  both  horses  and  drivers  were 
confounded ;  that  wheel  crashed  into  wheel  and  made 
advance  impossible;  that  turning  back  for  flight,  their 
disorder  and  confusion  became  a  rout,  and  that  in  this 
hour  of  crisis  the  returning  Avaters  surge  and  dash  upon 
them  and  bury  them  en  masse  beneath  the  mountain 
waves!  So  perished  the  slave-holders  and  oppressors 
of  God's  ancient  people  !  Thus  signally  did  Jehovah 
exalt  his  name  and  win  glory  to  himself  as  the  Aven- 
ger of  the  oppressed  and  the  faithful  God  of  his  Israel. 
The  case  falls  into  the  same  class  with  the  flood  and  the 
fires  on  Sodom,  to  show  before  the  ages  how  readily  the 
Lord  can  find  fit  instruments  of  retributive  justice  for 
the  swift  punishment  of  the  wicked  even  in  this  world 
whenever  examples  are  needed  to  set  forth  his  dipleas- 
ure  against  sin,  and  the  certainty  of  his  retributions 
upon  the  wicked.  Under  a  system  which  normally  puts 
over  this  retribution  till  after  death,  it  might  obvioysly 
be  wise  in  the  early  ages  of  time  to  give  some  excep- 
tional cases  to  stand  as  illustrations  squarely  before  the 
e3^es  of  living  men,  witnessing  to  the  terrors  of  that 
retribution  which  can  not  linger  long  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  just  and  holy  God. 

The  night  of  doom  to  Pharaoh  was  the  night  of  re- 
demption to  Israel.  With  the  morning  light  they 
"saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  sea-shore" — men  in 
their  armor  of  battle;  horses  in  the  proud  trappings  of 
Egypt;  broken  chariots,  all  powerless  now — are  dashed 
up  by  the  waves  of  the  turbid  sea  and  lie  strewn  upon 
the  eastern  shore — memorials  at  once  of  the  danger  that 
was  and  of  the  victory  and  triumph  that  are,  and  that 


THE   SONG   OF   VICTORY*  215 

are  to  be,  the  joy  of  God's  redeemed  people.  Most  fitly 
the  deep  emotions  of  the  people  seek  expression  in  song. 
The  oldest  song  known  to  history  and  one  of  the  grand- 
est, is  here  before  lis.  "  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for 
he  hath  triumphed  gloriously :" — Ah,  indeed,  it  was  the 
Lord  who  wrought  the  victory ;  who  went  down  alone 
into  that  eventful  battle  and  who  came  back  the 
mighty  conqueror!  "The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he 
thrown  into  the  sea."  Over  and  over  this  central  idea 
appears :  "  Pharaoh's  chariots  and  his  host  hath  he  cast 
into  the  sea;  his  chosen  chariots  also  are  drowned  in 
the  Red  Sea."  "Thou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind;  the 
sea  covered  them ;  they  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters."  Let  the  Great  God  of  Israel  be  praised  for  all 
this !  Appropriately  this  is  the  burden  of  the  song : 
"  The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  my  song,  and  he  is  be- 
come my  salvation."  "  Who  is  like  unto  thee,  0  Lord, 
among  the  gods?  Who  is  like  to  Thee,  glorious  in 
holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders"? 

Let  us  hope  that  the  hearts  of  the  saved  people  were 
deeply  moved  in  the  spirit  of  this  sublime  song;  that 
they  saw  God  as  never  before,  and  gave  him  the  hom- 
age of  their  hearts,  grateful,  trustful,  and  adoring.l 

It  may  be  noticed  that  Moses  leads  the  thought  of 
the  people  forward  to  the  remote  results  of  this  redemp- 
tion: "The  nations  shall  hear  and  be  afraid;  sorrow 
shall  take  hold  on  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine;  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Canaan  shall  melt  away ;  fear  and  dread 
shall  fall  upon  them  ....  till  thy  peojile  pass  over  and 
thou  hast  planted  them  in  their  promised  inheritance." 

The  moral  results  of  this  scene,  we  may  hope,  were 
really  wholesome  and  efiective  upon  the  multitude.  It 
amazes  us  to  find  that  so  soon  afterward  there  were 
some  among  them  who  murmured  for  water,  rebelled 
against  Moses,  made  and  worshiped  a  calf  of  gold:  but 
the  young,  less  depraved  by  their  Egj^ptian  life  and 
perhaps  more  impressible  by  such  manifestatioiis  of 
God,  seem  to  have  drank  in  the  solemn  lessons  of  these 
grand  events. 

The  locality  of  the  Red  Sea  crossing  has  been  not  a  little 
controverted — until  the  researches  of  modern  times. 
Since  Dr.  Robinson's  personal  examination  of  that 
region,  including  the  site  of  Goshen,  the  route  of  their 
three  days'  travel  till  they  reached  the  sea,  the  width 


216  THE   LOCALITY   OF   THE   RED  SEA   CROSSING. 

of  the  sea  at  the  various  points  between  which  the 
selection  must  be  made,  there  has  been  a  general  if  not 
universal  concurrence  in  the  conclusions  to  which  he 
came.  The  location  a  little  below  Suez  where  the  sea 
was  supposably  not  far  from  one  mile  in  width ;  where 
a  strong  easterly  wind  would  drive  out  the  waters  from 
the  channel — seems  to  fulfill  all  the  historical  condi- 
tions of  the  problem.  See  his  Researches  in  Egvpt  and 
Palestine,  Vol.  I.  pp.  74-86. 


CHAPTER    XIV, 


THE  HISTOEIC  CONNECTIONS  OF  MOSES   WITH   PHA- 
EAOH  AND  EGYPT. 

The  thread  of  our  history  having  now  reached  a 
point  where  we  leave  Egypt  and  have  seen  the  last  of 
that  one  particular  Pharaoh,  it  is  in  place  to  take  a 
final  review  of  tlie  questions — AVho  was  this  Pharaoh? 
Can  he  be  identified  in  the  annals  of  Egyptian  antiqui- 
ties? Have  any  points  of  chronological  contact  be- 
tween the  records  of  Egypt  and  the  records  of  Moses 
been  fixed  reliably  so  that  the  one  system  can  be  laid 
alongside  of  the  other  and  positive  correspondence  be 
made  out? 

Comparing  the  Hebrew  records  with  Egyptian  monu- 
ments and  history,  the  following  points  of  coincidence 
may  be  regarded  as  established. 

1.  That  (as  already  observed)  the  kingdom  of  Egypt 
was  thoroughly  organized,  was  powerful,  and  had,  ap- 
parently, the  ripeness  of  age,  in  the  times  of  Joseph 
and  of  Moses.  In  all  these  respects  it  was  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  adjacent  populations  of  Northern  Africa 
and  of  South-western  Asia. 

2.  That  the  state  of  the  arts,  the  attainments  of  the 
learned  in  science,  the  usages  of  the  people,  the  reign 
of  law  and  of  social  order,  indicated  a  state  of  civil iza- 


HEBREW  AND  EGYPTIAN  RECORDS  COMPARED.        217 

tion  much  in  advance  of  any  thing  else  knoAvn  in 
that  ao-e. 

3.  That  all  the  minute  references  in  sacred  history 
to  the  common  life  of  the  people,  to  their  occupations, 
to  their  skill  in  the  arts,  to  the  productions  of  the 
country,  to  their  political  relations  with  outside  powers, 
are  abundantly  verified  in  the  numerous  monuments 
and  authorities  which  testif}'  what  the  Egypt  of  that 
age  really  was.  The  reference  to  many  of  these  points 
in  the  history  of  the  ten  plagues  admits  of  most  ample 
verification  from  the  ancient  Egyptian  authorities. 

4.  Particularly  we  find  in  Egyptian  history  the  means 
of  explaining  how  a  new  king  might  arise  who  "  knew 
not  Joseph  (change  of  dynasty  being  a  chronic  infirm- 
ity) ;  and  how  the  monarch  of  an  empire  so  magnifi- 
cant,  wielding  a  sway  so  despotic,  might  be  tempted  to 
defy  Jehovah  and  proudly  scorn  to  obey  his  command 
to  "let  the  people  go.'' 

5.  Yet  again  as  to  the  sort  of  labor  exacted  unmerci- 
fully of  the  Hebrew  people  the  evidence  from  Egyptian 
antiquities  is  fully  corroborative.  "  They  built  for  Pha- 
raoh treasure  cities,  Pithom  and  Rameses,"  and  were 
put  to  the  severest  toil  in  making  brick ;  in  the  erec- 
tion of  buildings,  including  the  transportation  of  the 
heaviest  materials;  and  to  "all  manner  of  service  in 

the  field"  (Ex.  1:  11,  14). These  treasure  cities  are 

identified  with  a  high  degree  of  certainty;  and  ]3roxi- 
mately  some  of  the  very  kings  by  whom  this  service 
was  exacted.  Mons.  Chabas  *  thinks  he  has  found  the 
Hebrews  under  name  in  official  Egyptian  records.  He 
argues  well  that  it  must  be  in  vain  to  look  in  the  pub- 
lic monuments  [g.  g.  in  their  temples]  for  any  thing 
disastrous  to  the  king  or  to  his  people — those  monuments 
being  consecrated  to  the  triumphs  and  glories  of  the 
kingdom — official  bulletins  for  this  very  purpose.  This 
consideration  rules  out  the  ten  plagues;  the  escape  of 
the  Hebrews;  the  overthrow  of  the  Egyptians  in  the 
Red  Sea.  Events  so  disreputable  and  disastrous  to 
Egypt  need  not  be  looked  for  on  her  sacred  monuments. 

But  the  records  on  papyrus,  consisting  of  both  ofh- 

cial  and  private  correspondence,  military  reports, 
surveys  of  public  works,  financial  accounts,  etc.,  may 
furnii<h  their  name.     The  Hebrews  were  an  important 

*See  IJibliotliGca  Sacra,  Oct.,  1SG3,  p.  881. 


218      HEBREW   AND   EGYPTIAN    RECORDS    COMPARED. 

colony,  held  forcibly  upon  the  soil  of  Egypt,  employed 
largely  upon  her  public  works.  Consequently  some 
notice  of  them  may  be  reasonably  looked  for  in  the 
class  of  documents  pertaining  to  the  business  of  the 

realm. Mons.  Chabas  maintains  very  sensibly  that 

we  should  look  for  this  people  under  the  name  "i/e- 
hrews;''^  not  "children  of  Israel" — this  being  rather  a 
religious  than  an  ethnic  designation;  not  "Israelites" — 
this  name  not  having  then  come  into  use ;  not  Jews, 
this  name  being  first  used  many  centuries  later. 

Three  documents  have  been  recently  discovered  which 
speak  of  a  foreign  race  under  the  hieroglyphic  name 
"  Aperiu."  On  principles  of  comparative  philology, 
Mons.  Chabas  makes  this  word  the  equivalent  of  Hebrew. 

In  the  first  document  the  scribe  Kanisar  reports 

to  his  superior :  "  I  have  obeyed  the  command  which 
my  master  gave  me  to  provide  subsistence  for  the  soldiers 
and  also  for  the  Aperiu  who  carry  stone  for  the  great 
Bekhen  of  King  Rameses.  I  have  given  them  rations 
every  month  according  to  the  excellent  instructions  of 
my  master."  * The  second  is  similar  :  "  I  have  fur- 
nished rations  to  the  soldiers  and  also  to  the  Aperiu 
who  carry  stone  for  the  sun  of  [the  temple  of]  the  sun, 
Rameses  Meriamen,  to  the  south  of  Memphis." 

Furthermore,  Egyptian  records  show  that  they  put 
their  prisoners  of  war  to  such  labors;  for  their  kings 
record  on  the  temples  the  number  of  captives  they  have 
taken  to  labor  upon  the  temples  of  their  gods. 

Two  of  these  documents  on  papyri  belong  to  the  reign 
of  Rameses  II,  whom  IMons.  ChalDas  assumes  to  be  the 
king  whose  daughter  adopted  Moses  and  whose  son  and 
successor,  Mei-en-ptah,  experienced  the  ton  plaa;ues  and 
fell  in  the  Red  Sea.  (Bib.  Sacra,_Oct.,  1865,  p.  G85.) 

6.  It  is  a  well-established  fact  of  history  that  at  one 
period — not  yet  located  definitely — Lower  Egypt  Avas 
subdued  and  held  by  a  Shepherd  race,  called  by  Josephus, 
"  Hyksos,"  supposed  to  have  come  from  adjacent  provin- 
ces of  Arabia  or  from  Pheniciaor  both,  and  to  have  held 
the  country  from  350  to  500  years — a  Vandal  race,  sav- 
agely desolating  the  noble  monuments  of  Egyptian  art 
and  civilization,  and  known  by  the  native  JEgyptians 

®  The  term  "  Bekhen  "  is  used  for  any  kind  of  building — a  temple, 
palace,  or  even  a  common  house.  Descriptions  of  what  they  built 
correspond  to  the  sacred  record,  "  treasure-cities." 


HEBREW   AND    EGYPTIAN    RECORDS    COMrARED.      219 

as  "  the  Scourge."  This  Shepherd  race  was  ultimately 
driven  out  by  the  kings  of  Upper  Egypt  (a  Theban 
dynasty) — probably  before  the  age  of  Moses ;  perhaps 
before  Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt.  It  may  be  consid- 
ered certain  that  Josophus  and  others  err  in  confound- 
ing them  with  the  Hebrew  people. Geo.  Rawlinson 

[in  Aids  to  Faith,  p.  293]  says — "  The  period  of  the 
Shepherd  Kings  is  estimated  variously  as  continuing 
500,  GOO,  900,  and  even  2,000  years ;  that  historic  monu- 
ments were  generally  destroyed  during  their  dominion ; 
that  no  reliable  historic  records  exist  older  than  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  which  expelled  the 
Shepherd  Kings ;  and  that  previously  to  their  times, 
'Association'  in  Royalty  was  practiced,  two  or  even 
three  kings  sitting  on  the  same  throne  at  the  same  time, 
dividing  its  labors  and  its  honors  between  themselves." 
As  to  the  date  of  this  Shepherd  rule,  the  diversity  in 
opinion  among  the  best  informed  students  of  Egyptian 
antiquity  is  by  no  means  comforting  or  assuring.  Dr. 
Lepsius  and  others  have  placed  their  invasion  of  Egypt 
directly  after  the  twelfth  dynasty  (B.  C.  2101),  and  tlicir 
expulsion  about  B.  C.  1591.  In  his  chronology,  Jacob 
went  down  into  Egypt  B.  C.  1414;  Moses  led  the  people 
out  B.  C.  1314 — neither  date  having  the  least  regard  to 

the  scripture  chronology. Mons.  Mariette  dates  it  in 

the  eighteenth  century  B.  C,  i.  e.  between  B.  C.  1700 
and  B.  C.  1800.  With  this  we  might  compare  the  so- 
journ of  the  Israelites  in  Egyj^t  from  B.  C.  2033  to  B.  C. 
1603 ;  or  on  the  chronology  of  Usher,  from  B.  C.  1706  to 

B.  C.  1491. Brugsch  dates  their  incursion  B.C.  2115, 

and  supposes  them  to  have  been  Arabs  from  Arabia 
Petraea. Bunsen's  latest  recension  places  their  in- 
vasion B.  C.  1983;  their  expulsion,  B.  C.  1548;  and  the 
Exodus  of  the  Hebrews  B.  C.  1320— the  last  date  being 
certainly  wide  of  the  truth. The  evidence  is  con- 
clusive that  their  expulsion  preceded  the  resplendent 
eighteenth  dynasty  whose  kings  ruled  over  all  Egy]it, 
and  among  whom  was  the  Pharaoh  who  "  would  not  let 
the  people  go."  Dr.  Thompson  argues  at  considerable 
length  that  the  entire  occupation  of  Lower  Egypt  by 
the  Hyksos  must  have  preceded  the  residence  of  the  He- 
brews there;  but  feels  the  difficulties  of  the  problem. 
He  says — "  As  yet  the  terminvs  a  quo  remains  in  obscur- 
ity"   [the   point  at   which  their  occupation  begins]; 


220      HEBREW   AND    EGYPTIAN    RECORDS    COMPARED. 

"  while  the  terminus  ad  quern  is  beginning  to  take  a  fixed 
place  in  history."  Tlie  date  of  their  expulsion  is  mostly- 
relieved  of  doubt.  The  war  which  resulted  in  their  ex- 
pulsion was  begun  by  Seneken-Ka,  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  18th  dynasty  of  Thebes  [Upper 
Egypt],  and  was  prosecuted  by  Ahmes  I,  otherwise 
called  Neb]oeh-Ra,  in  whose  fifth  year  they  were  finally 
expelled.  The  reign  of  Ahmes  I  is  proximately  as- 
signed to  the  17th  century  B.  C,  i.  e.  from  B.  C.  1600  to 

B.  C.  1700. A  curious  inscription  has  recently  been 

discovered  by  Mons.  Dumischen,  referring  to  a  brilliant 
triumph  over  the  Lybians,  achieved  by  a  certain  king 
Menephtah — this  Avar  being  dated  nearly  400  years 
after  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos.  The  scribe  appended 
the  remark — "One  could  not  have  seen  the  like  in  the 
time  of  the  kings  of  Lower  Egypt  when  the  country  of 
Egypt  was  held  by  the  ^^Scourge,^^  and  the  kings  of  Upper 

Egypt  could  not  drive  them  out." This  authority 

seems  to  prove  that  the  Hyksos  held  only  Lower  Eg3'pt ; 
that  Upper  Egypt  was  under  another  dynasty,  for  a 
time  unable  to  expel  the  Shepherd  race,  but  ultimately 
successful,  and  subsequently  attaining  much  greater  mil- 
itary power ;  also  that  the  Hyksos  people  were  accounted 
a  savage  and  barbarous  race. 

In  conclusion  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  the  study 
of  Egyptian  antiquities,  though  richly  remunerative 
and  satisfactory  in  regard  to  almost  every  thing  else,  is 
still  very  dubious  and  perjjlexing  in  the  point  of 
definite  chronology.  The  views  of  the  ablest  scholars  are 
widely  conflicting;  the  original  authorities  still  wait 
for  some  master  mind  to  put  them  into  system,  or  what 
is  perhaps  nearer  the  truth,  for  the  discovery  of  com- 
petent data  from  which  a  system  can  be  constructed 
which  shall  harmonize  all  the  authorities  in  the  case. 
We  want  to  know  the  Pharaoh  to  whom  the  Lord  sent 
Moses,  whose  reign  synchronizes  with  the  Exodus. 
We  find  a  series  of  powerful  monarchs  in  the  eighteenth 
dynasty  and  also  in  the  nineteenth;  but  which  of  them 
answers  to  this  particular  Pharaoh,  it  seems  yet  impos- 
sible to  determine  with  satisfactory  certainty.  Rame- 
ses  II,  all  agree,  was  a  powerful  king ;  built  immense 
public  works;  reigned  at  least  sixty,  perhaps  sixty-six 
years; — but  some  authorities  place  liim  in  the  eighteenth 
and  some  in  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  the  extreme 


HEBREW   AND    EGYPTIAN!  RECORDS   COMPARED.        221 

difference  in  the  assigned  dates  for  his  reign  is  three 
hundred  years. 

The  difficulties  that  invest  Egyptian  dates  and  dy- 
nasties seem  at  present  to  be  aggravated  rather  than 
relieved  by  the  progress  of  modern  discoveries.  Thus 
we  find  in  the  Bib.  Sacra_,  Oct.  1867,  (pp.  773  and  774) 
four  parallel  lists  of  the  first  three  Egyptian  dvnasties, 
viz:  (1.)  That  of  Manetho;  (2.)  The  Turin  Papyrus; 
(3.)  The  Tablet  of  Sethos ;  (4.)  The  Tablet  of  Sakharah 
or  Memphis.  Compared  with  Manetho,  the  last  three 
are  of  quite  recent  discovery.  They  are  somewhat  de- 
fective; yet  it  is  not  specially  difhcult  to  discover  a 
striking  similarity  and  in  many  cases  an  obvious 
identity  in  the  names  given.  But  the  names  in 
Manetho's  list  almost  utterly  lack  even  similarity ; 
much  more  do  they  refuse  to  come  into  identity.  The 
authority  of  the  last  three  must,  it  seems  to  me,  be  de- 
cidedly greater  than  that  of   Manetho. The  same 

difficulty  appears  when  we  compare  Manetho's  names 
in  the  "later  dynasties  (e.  g.  18th-20th)  with  names 
constantly  coming  to  light  in  recently  discovered  Egyp- 
tian monuments.  I  know  not  how  this  fact  affects 
other  minds.  It  can  not  but  lessen  my  confidence  in 
the  lists  of  Manetho.     It  certainly  goes  far  to  lessen 

their  practical  value. It  is  somewhat  disheartening 

that  these  chronological  difficulties  clear  up  so  slowly. 
It  still  remains  to  be  hoped  that  light  will  yet  break  in 
and  that  conclusions  will  be  reached  in  which  all  im- 
portant authorities  will  be  shown  to  concur.* 

It  would  be  a  verj^  great  acquisition  historically  if 
we  might  know  what  Egypt  was  doing  while  the  He- 
brews were  wandering  in  the  wilderness  fort}^  years. 
Various  circumstances  conspire  to  favor  the  opinion 
that  during  this  period  her  king  made  a  vast  military 
crusade  upoi^  Palestine  and  the  regions  farther  north, 
occupying  several  years  and  greatly  crippling  the  pow- 
erful tribes  [kingdoms  so  called]  then  in  possession  of 
the  land  of  Canaan.  Both  Josephus  and  Herodotus 
give,  accounts  of  a  great  military  expedition  of  tliis 
sort — leaving,  however,  the  main  chronological   prob- 

*See  Burgess  on  "The  Anticiuity  of  Man,"  pp.  G8-S4,  on  tlie  un- 
reliability of  Manetho's  lists  and  on  the  relative  value  of  other  au- 
thorities in  Egyptian  chronologies. 


222   HEBREW  AND  EGYPTIAN  RECORDS  COMPARED. 

lem  Wlienf  to  be  determined. As  to  the  great  power 

of  the  kings  of  Canaan,  the  Lord  said  to  Moses,  "  I  will 
send  a  hornet  before  you  to  drive  them  out,"  i.  e.  to  break 
down  their  power  and  fiicilitate  the  subjection  of  the 
country  before  the  arms  of  Joshua,  The  original  word 
translated  "hornet"  does  not  suggest  the  insect  now 
commonly  known  by  that  name ;  but  is  equivalent  to 
scourge^  yet  not  precisely  defining  of  what  sort.  It  is 
supposable  that  Egypt  and  her  next  king  after  the  Ex- 
odus, were  more  maddened  than  subdued  by  the  escape 
of  Israel  and  by  the  humbling  disaster  at  the  Red  Sea; 
that  this  great  expedition  Avas  inspired  by  the  ex- 
pectation of  finding  the  Hebrew  people  in  Canaan  and 
of  punishing  them  there ;  that  God's  providence  shield- 
ed them  with  perfect  protection  in  the  great  Arabian 
desert  where  no  Egyptian  host  could  follow  them  or 
even  subsist ;  and  then  with  that  marvelous  wisdom 
which  so  often  turns  the  wrath  of  man  to  his  own 
praise,  used  their  prowess  in  arms  to  break  down  the 
militar}'  strength  of  Canaan  and  prepare  that  land  for 
easy  conquest  before  the  arms  of  Joshua.  It  seems  ob- 
vious that  in  point  of  military  strength  a  great  change 
had  come  over  the  tribes  of  Canaan  between  the  visit 
of  the  spies  and  the  conquest  by  Israel.  Did  the  Lord 
use  the  chariots  and  horsemen  of  Egypt  to  produce  this 
result?  To  have  done  so  would  be  quite  in  keeping 
with  that  great  law  of  his  operations  in  this  sinning 
world  under  which  he  so  often  turns  the  wrath  of 
wicked  men  to  account  most  signally  and  even  glori- 
ously to  promote  the  ends  of  his  own  kingdom. 

The  Manna. 

The  divine  plan  of  leading  Israel  to  Canaan  by  the 
way  of  the  great  desert  involved  the  question  of  subsist- 
ence— bread  and  water  for  such  a  host  through  so  long  a 
journey.  It  was  perfectly  obvious  that  the  ordinary 
resources  of  this  desert  were  entirely  inadequate,  so 
that  the  alternative  was  simply,  miracle,  or  starvation. 
In  the  choice  of  miracle  God  had  in  view  not  only 
physical  subsistence  but  moral  culture — the  perpetual 
impression  upon  the  millions  of  Israel  that  their  cove- 
nant-keeping God  was  feeding  them  every  day  with 
bread  immediately  from  his  own  hand. 


THE   MANNA.  223 

This  bread  took  the  name  "manna"  from  the  ques- 
tion asked  by  the  people  when  they  found  it  upon  the 
ground  in  the  morning — What  is  this?  Their  Hebrew 
words  were — Man-hu;  what  this?  All  the  ancient 
versions  and  most  ancient  authorities  concur  in  de- 
riving the  name  "  manna  "  from  this  original  question 
as  put  in  Ex.  16:  15.  [Our  English  version  Has  the 
only  correct  rendering  in  the  margin.] 

The  manna  fell  by  night  as  the  dew  falls,  and  it 
would  seem,  fell  with  and  in  the  dew  so  that  when  the 
dew  evaporated  under  the  morning  sun,  there  remained 
this  very  fine  deposit — "a  small  round  thing,  as  small 
as  the  hoar  frost  upon  the  ground."  "It  was  like 
coriander  seed,  white,  and  the  taste  of  it  was  like 
wafers  made  with  honey"  (Ex.  16:  13-15,  31).  A  sub- 
sequent description  (Num.  11 :  7-9)  adds — "  The  manna 
was  as  coriander  seed  and  the  color  thereof  as  the  color 
of  bdellium.  And  the  people  went  about  and  gathered 
it,  and  ground  it  in  mills,  or  beat  it  in  a  mortar,  and 
baked  it  in  pans,  and  made  cakes  of  it ;  and  tlie  taste  of 
it  was  as  the  taste  of  fresh  oil.  And  when  the  dew  fell 
upon  the  camp  in  the  night,  the  manna  fell  upon 
it." The  gathering,  the  preparation  of  it  for  cook- 
ing, and  the  cooking  itself,  cost  labor,  yet  obviously 
none  too  much  for  the  health  and  morals  of  the  million. 
The  physiological  facts  to  be  noticed  are  that  it  was 
sufficiently  palatable  for  all  practical  purposes  and  had 
the  necessary  elements  for  the  real  bread — the  staff  of 
life — for  a  whole  nation  during  forty  years  of  wilderness 
life,  with  its  alternations  of  marchings  and  encamp- 
ments ;  of  labor  and  of  rest. 

The  points  which  evinced  the  miraculous  hand  of 
God  were — that  it  came  from  no  known  or  possible 
source  of  suppl}'  in  the  kingdom  of  nature ;  that  it  fell 
in  the  full  amount  needed  for  the  thousands  of  Israel; 
fell  on  each  of  six  mornings  but  not  at  all  on  the  sev- 
enth, the  Sabbath ;  that  the  average  amount  on  five  of 
these  mornings  was  a  supply  for  one  day,  while  on  the 
morning  next  preceding  the  Sabbath,  a  double  quantity 
fell,  being  a  supply  for  two  days;  that  the  gathering 
for  the  first  five  days  of  the  week  could  be  kept  only 
one  day,  but  the  double  supply  of  the  sixth  day  re- 
mained sweet  and  pure  for  two  days ;  and  moreover,  a 
quantity  laid  up  by  God's  command  in  the  ?acred  ark 


224  THE    MANNA. 

remained  unchanged  for  many  generations.  Thus  won- 
derfully did  the  Almighty  impress  his  hand  upon  every 
feature  of  this  bread  from  heaven  !* 

The  allusions  to  manna  in  the  Scriptures  take  note 
of  the  fact  that  "God  suffered  them  to  hunger''  before  he 
sent  them  this  supply  (Deut.  8:  3,  16).  The  record 
(Ex.  16 :  1)  states  that  it  was  already  the  fifteenth  day 
of  the  second  month  since  they  came  out  of  EgyjDt 
when  the  whole  congregation  murmured  for  bread  and 
seemed  to  themselves  about  to  perish  of  hunger  in  the 
wilderness.  One  month  and  a  half  must  have  quite 
exhausted  the  hasty  and  scanty  supplies  which  they 
brought  from  Egyjit.  The  marvel  is  how  they  could 
have  subsisted  upon  this  so  long,  even  though  coupled 
with  all  the  supplies  possible  in  that  desert.  That 
"  God  suffered  them  to  hunger "  is  however  only  in 
harmony  with  his  usual  method  of  dealing  with  his 
people — subjecting  them  to  a  certain  pressure  of  want 
for  purposes  of  moral  trial — the  object  being  to  test 
their  faith  in  himself;  to  draw  out  their  soul  in  prayer 
for  help  and  in  trust  under  darkness  and  in  straits; 
and  to  make  the  blessing  when  given  doubly  precious. 
What  Christian  has  ever  lived  long  under  any  circum- 
stances of  this  earthly  life  without  some  discipline 
under  this  great  law  of  the  Christian  life — "  He  suffered 
thee  to  hunger"  and  then  "fed  thee  with  angels' 
food"? 

Moses  (Deut.  8 :  16)  makes  a  special  point  of  the 
fact  that  this  bread  was  such  as  neither  they  nor  their 
fathers  had  ever  known  before.  The  Psalmist  (Ps.  78  : 
24,  25)  takes  the  lofty  poetic  view  of  this  great  gift  of 
God :  "  He  commanded  the  clouds  from  above  and 
opened  the  doors  of  heaven  and  rained  down  manna 
upon  them  to  eat  and  gave  them  of  the  corn  of  heaven. 
Man  did  eat  angels'  food :  he  sent  them  meat  to  the 

full." Josh.  5 :  12  shows  that  the  manna  ceased  as 

abruptly  as  it  began,  precisely  when  it  was  needed  no 
longer.  The  people  having  arrived  in  Canaan  and  sup- 
plies being  within  reach  from  the  old  corn  of  the  land, 
the  manna  ceased  and  fell  no  more. 

An  article  of  commerce  known  under  the  name  of 

*  The  passages  which  treat  of  it  are  Ex.  IG:  14-3G  and  Num.  11: 
7-9  and  Deut.  8  :  3,  16  and  Josh.  5 :  12,  Ps.  78  :  24,  25  and  Wisdom 
16  :  20,  21. 


WATER   SUrPLIED   BY   MIRACLE.  225 

"manna,"  produced  in  the  Arabian  desert  and  in 
other  Oriental  regions,  has  scarcely  an}'  points  in  com- 
mon with  the  manna  of  Scri2:)ture  save  the  name.  It 
exudes  from  shrubs;  does  not  fall  from  the  lower 
heavens  in  and  with  the  dew ;  it  is  obtained  at  the 
utmost  only  about  four  months  of  the  year;  is  most 
abundant  in  wet  seasons— fails  in  the  dry;  is  somewhat 
useful  as  a  condiment  and  a  medicine,  but  can  never 
take  the  place  of  bread ;  and  never  has  been  known  in 
such  quantities  as  would  suj^ply  bread  for  the  hosts  of 
Israel. 

How  long  the  pot  of  manna  was  preserved  in  the  ark 
of  the  covenant  can  not  be  known  definitely.  We  have 
the  fact  that  the  Lord  directed  its  preservation  there 
(Ex.  16:  32-34);  and  the  further  fact  that  when  the 
ark  was  placed  in  the  new  temple  of  Solomon  there 
Avas  nothing  in  it  save  the  two  tables  of  stone  (1  Kings 
8 :  9).  It  was  doubtless  kept  long  enough  to  subserve 
all  the  valuable  purposes  of  a  memorial  to  the  gene- 
rations of  Israel.  It  has  been  embalmed  in  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness  of  the  Christian  age  by  its  symbolical 
use  in  the  teachings  of  our  Lord  in  which  it  represents 
his  flesh  which  he  gave  for  the  life  of  the  world — the 
far  more  real  bread  of  life  from  heaven  (John  6:  31-35, 
47-58). 

Water  Supplied  by  Miracle. 

The  subsistence  of  the  Israelites  during  forty  3'ears 
in  the  desert  of  Arabia  involved  not  only  a  sujiply  of 
bread  but  of  water  also.  On  two  distinct  occasions — the 
first  at  Rephidim,  close  to  Horeb,  during  the  last  half 
of  the  second  month  from  Egypt ;  and  the  second  at 
Kadesh,  in  the  northern  border  of  the  great  desert, 
and  during  the  first  month  of  the  fortieth  year  from 
Egypt,*  water  was  supplied  them  by  miracle. 

So  great  a  multitude  of  people,  including  their  ani- 
mals,  must   have    required   a  largo    supply  of  water. 

*  The  precise  date  of  the  scenes  at  Katleyh  (Num.  20)  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  dcatli  of  Aaron  which  followed  shortly  after  (Num. 
20:  23-29),  and  is  definitely  dated  (Num.  33:  38),  viz.  on  the  first 
day  of  the  fifth  month  in  the  fortieth  year  from  Egypt.  The  "  first 
month"  therefore,  spoken  of  Num.  20  :  1  must  have  been  that  of  the 
fortieth  year. 


226         WATER  SUPPLIED  BY  MIKACLE. 

Nothing  therefore  is  more  probable  than  that  the  sup- 
ply should  often  be  short,  and  sometimes  utterly  fail. 
At  Rephidim  the  people  most  unreasonably  chode  with 
Moses  as  if  he  alone  was  responsible  for  bringing  them 
out  of  Egypt  and  for  the  lack  of  water,  and  as  if  their 
sufferings  were  so  great  as  altogether  to  eclipse  all  the 
blessings  of  that  great  deliverance.  Moses  had  no  help 
but  in  the  Lord  his  God,  In  answer  to  prayer  the 
Lord  provided  for  a  miracle,  to  be  well  attested  by  the 
presence  of  a  body  of  the  elders  of  the  people.  "  Take 
them  with  thee,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  and  take  also  thy 
rod  wherewith  thou  smitest  the  river"  (the  Nile)  "and 
go.  I  will  stand  before  thee  there  uj)on  the  rock  in 
Horeb  and  thou  shalt  smite  the  rock,  and  there  shall 

come  water  out  of  it  that  the  people  may  drink." 

The  names  given  were  significant — "Massah"  of  their 
tempting  the  Lord  by  their  unbelief;  Meribah,  of  their 
chiding  and  strife  as  to  Moses. 

The  scenes  at  Kadesh  (Num.  20)  were  almost  forty 
years  subsequent,  and  consequently  involved  another 
generation.  The  spirit  of  their  complaint  was  quite 
the  same  however — chiding  Moses  most  unreasonably, 
petulantly  wishing  they  had  died  before  the  Lord  as  so 
many  of  their  brethren  who  had  fallen  under  God's 
judgments  in  the  wilderness  since  the  unbelieving  re- 
port of  the  spies  and  the  consequent  wrath  of  God  upon 
the  people.  Sadly  we  must  note  here  that  this  un- 
reasonable and  even  cruel  reflection  upon  Moses  stirred 
his  indignation,  excited  him  unduly,  and  found  expres- 
sion in  ill-advised  words  from  his  lips.  The  Lord  had 
told  him  to  take  Aaron  his  brother,  to  gather  the  people 
together  before  the  rock,  and  then  speak  to  the  rock  be- 
fore their  eyes  and  it  should  give  forth  water.  When 
the  eventful  moment  came,  Moses,  instead  of  saying — 
Ye  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  your  God,  yet  in  his 
mercy  he  will  give  you  rivers  of  water  from  this  rock 
upon  the  word  of  command  from  his  servant — said  as  in 
the  record — "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels,  must  we  fetch  you 
water  out  of  this  rock  "?  In  circumstances  where  man 
should  be  nothing  and  God  all  in  all — man  only  a  con- 
sciously unworthy  instrument,  and  God  the  Supreme 
and  ever  to  be  honored  Power,  it  was  one  of  the  sad  in- 
firmities of  the  best  of  men  to  put  himself  so  promi- 
nently forward  and  thrust  the  Great  God  so  ungrate- 


WATER  SUPPLIP^D   BY   MIRACLE.  227 

fully  into  tlie  back-ground.  Then,  moved  by  the  same 
excited  passion,  instead  of  speaking  to  the  rock,  he 
smote  it  with  his  rod,  not  once  only  but  twice.  Yet 
the  Lord  did  not  rebuke  him  with  failure,  but  despite 
of  his  bad  spirit,  gave  forth  water  abundantly.  The 
rebuke  upon  both  Moses  and  Aaron  came  shortly  after 
in  the  form  of  an  absolute  prohibition  upon  their  en- 
tering the  land  of  promise.  They  had  so  dishonored 
the  Lord  in  this  case  at  Kadesh  that  he  must  needs  ex- 
press his  disapprobation  by  denying  to  both  of  them 
the  long-desired  consummation  of  entering  the  goodly 

land. If  the  Lord's  rebuke  of  Moses  seem  severe,  let 

it  be  considered  that  his  sin  was  very  great  because  he 
had  been  admitted  into  so  near  communion  with  God — 
such  communion  as  had  never  been  granted  to  any 
other  man.  If  the  guilt  of  sin  be  as  the  light  sinned 
against,  we  are  not  likely  to  overestimate  the  guilt  of 
his.  The  Lord  speaks  of  it  as  rebellion  (Num.  27 :  14). 
And  manifestly  his  sin  was  so  public  as  well  as  so 
flagrant  that  it  became  vital  to  the  honor  of  God's  name 
and  government  to  rebuke  it  unmistakably. 

The  exclusion  from  Canaan  fell  sorely  upon  the  heart 
of  Moses.  He  prayed  earnestly  that  God  would  reverse 
this  decree,  but  in  vain.  The  Lord  shut  off  all  hope, 
saying,  "  Let  it  suffice  thee ;  speak  no  more  unto  me  of 
this  matter"  (Deut.  3 :  23-27).  Sorrowful  are  the  words 
of  Moses:  "I  must  die  in  this  land;  I  must  not  go  over 
Jordan  "  (Deut.  4 :  21). 

The  question-  arises  naturally :  Were  these  two 
cases — at  Rephidim  and  at  Kadesh — the  only  supplies 
by  miracle  during  those  forty  years?  One  of  them  oc- 
curred during  the  first  year  of  the  forty;  the  other,  dur- 
ing the  last :  was  the  whole  intervening  period  barren 
of  all  miraculous  supply?  Or  were  these  two  cases  put 
on  record  rather  as  specimens  than  as  exhaustive  his- 
tory?  Yet  another  question  comes  up:  How  long 

did  the  supply  in  each  of  these  two  cases  continue  ? 
llephidim  was  adjacent  to  Sinai,  and  the  hosts  of  Israel 
remained  before  and  near  that  mountain  many  days. 
Did  the  supply  from  the  Rephidim  rock  hold  good  dur- 
ing this  entire  period?  Did  it  follow  them  along  their 
journey  in  the  wilderness  still  further? 

To  these  questions  the  first  answer  is — that  the  his- 
tory is  silent  as  to  the  duration  of  the  supply  in  either 


228  WATER   SUPPLIED   BY   MIRACLE. 

case.     Moses  might  have  told  us  definitely,  but  he  has 

not. Beyond  this  it  only  remains  to  take  note  of  the 

allusions  to  this  supply,  made  elsewhere  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  to  suggest  the  probabilities  of  the  case. 

The  writer  of  Ps.  78  sings:  "He  clave  the  rock  in  the 
wilderness  and  gave  them  drink  as  out  of  the  great 
depths.  He  brought  streams  also  out  of  the  rock  and 
caused  waters  to  run  down  like  rivers"  (vs.  15,  16). 
In  Ps.  114:  8.  we  read — "Who  turned  the  rock  into  a 
standing  water;  the  flint,  into  a  fountain  of  water." 
These  words  imply  a  great  abundance  for  the  time  and 
seem  to  assume  an  amj^le  supply  so  long  as  the  hosts  of 
Israel  remained  in  those  places.  They  do  not  necessa- 
rily imply  that  the  waters  followed  them  as  a  river  in 
their  journey  onward  from  Rephidim  or  from  Kadesh. 
^— The  allusions  in  Isa.  43 :  19,  20,  and  48  :  21  are  de- 
cisive as  to  the  temporary  supply  but  indefinite  as  to 

its  duration. The  words  of  Paul  (1  Cor.  10 :  4)  should 

be  noted.  "  Our  fathers  all  drank  the  same  spiritual 
drink  (for  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  Rock  that  fol- 

loived  them  and  that  Rock  Avas  Christ "  ). In  this 

passage,  drinking  of  the  Rock  can  be  nothing  else  than 
drinking  of  the  waters  that  issued  from  the  rock.  The 
only  question  of  importance  exegetically  is — whether 
the  words  "followed  them"  refer  to  the  waters  or  to  the 
presence  of  Christ  as  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire. 
The  former  seems  the  more  obvious  and  natural  refer- 
ence, and,  in  so  far,  favors  the  view  that  these  w\aters, 
furnished  miraculously,  did  follow  them  to  some  extent 
on  their  journey — jjerhaps  in  the  way  of  fresh  supplies 
provided  for  them  in  a  similar  manner.  It  can  not  be 
doubted  that  the  hosts  of  Israel  had  toater  through  all 
their  journeyings ;  they  could  not  have  subsisted  long 
without  it.  The  natural  supply  must  have  been  vastly 
greater  in  that  age  than  in  this  if  it  sufficed  for  this 
great  host  at  all  other  points  of  their  journey  save  at 
Rephidim  and  at  Kadesh.  The  fact  of  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  bread  by  miracle  favors  the  assumption  of  water 
miraculously  provided  whenever  the  supply  from  nat- 
ural sources  failed  to  meet  their  necessities.  This  is 
perhaps  the  utmost  we  can  say  in  the  way  of  proba- 
bilities. 


BATTLE    WITH   AMALEK.  •  229 


The  Batile    With  Amalch. 

While  Israel  was  on  the  march  near  Rephidim,  the 
Amalekites  fell  savagely  upon  their  rear  in  a  dastardly, 
unprovoked  assault,  described  by  Moses  (Deut.  25  :  17, 
18):  "Remember  what  Amalck  did  to  thee  by  the  way 
when  ye  were  come  forth  out  of  Egypt;  how  he  met 
thee  by  the  way  and  smote  the  hindmost  of  thee,  even 
all  that  were  feeble  behind  thee  when  thou  was  ftiint 
and  weary;  and  he  feared  not  God."  The  day  follow- 
ing, Moses  summoned  Joshua  to  choose  men  for  war 
and  go  out  against  Amalek,  proposing  for  himself  to 
take  his  stand  upon  a  hill  adjacent  with  the  rod  of  God 
in  his  hand.  His  uplifted  hand  and  rod  became  the 
symbol  or  rather  the  visible  manifestation  of  prayer. 
While  held  up  aloft,  Israel  prevailed;  let  down, 
Amalek  prevailed.  To  achieve  victory  despite  of  the 
weariness  of  Moses,  a  stone  was  placed  for  him  to  sit 
upon ;  then  Aaron  and  Hur  on  either  side  held  up  his 
hands  until  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  Thus  victory 
was  achieved;  Amalek  was  defeated,  and  Avhat  is  spec- 
ially to  be  noted,  a  signal  illustration  was  afforded  of 
the  power  of  prayer  and  a  sublime  testimony  placed  on 
record  before  all  Israel  that  in  God  they  were  mighty 
against  their  foes  and  could  have  nothing  to  fear.  So 
important  were  these  great  moral  lessons  that  the  Lord 
directed  Moses  to  "write  this  for  a  memorial  in  the 
book"  [not  merely  a  book]— the  well-known  public 
record  in  which  the  wonderful  works  of  God  for  Israel 

were  to  be  permanently  preserved. Another  reason 

for  the  record  was  that  Amalek  was  doomed  for  this 
outrage,  and  the  future  kings  and  warriors  of  Israel  re- 
ceived from  time  to  time  their  divine  commission  to 
execute  this  sentence  of  extermination.  (See  Deut.  25 : 
19,  and  1  Sam.  15,  etc.,  etc.) 

There  are  some  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  history 
and  geographical  location  of  these  Amalekites.  The 
name  "Amalek  "  appears  (Gen.  36 :  12)  as  the  grandson 
of  Esau;  whence  some  have  found  the  origin,  geiicalog- 
ically,  of  this   people    there;   but  they  appear  much 

earlier  (Gen.  14  :  7). As  to  their  home  geographically, 

their  nomadic  habits  require  a  somewhat  wide  range  of 
territory  within  which  they  may  be  found.     The  pas- 


2.30  AMALEK. 

sages  1  Sam.  15 :  7,  and  27 :  8,  locate  them  in  the  dis- 
trict lying  between  the  Philistines  and  Egypt,  along 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  in  Arabia 
Petrea,  We  find  them  repeatedly  associated  with  the 
Midianites,  Moabites,  and  Ammonites  in  raids  upon  the 
children  of  Israel  during  the  time  of  the  Judges  and  on- 
ward to  the  reign  of  David  (Judg.  3 :  12,  13,  and  6 :  3, 
and  1  Sam.  30:  1).  They  come  to  view  in  the  visions 
of  Balaam  (Num.  24 :  20),  spoken  of  there  as  "  the  first 
of  the  nations" — a  phrase  which  can  scarcely  refer  to 
their  high  antiquity  (though  this  construction  is 
barely  possible)  ;  but  more  probably  it  refers  to  the  fact 
that  they  were  the  first  to  make  war  upon  Israel  after 
the  latter  assumed  her  distinctly  national  character. 
So  understood,  the  description  of  Amalek  looked  histor- 
ically back  to  the  facts  before  us  Ex.  17.  Balaam  fore- 
saw their  early  destruction — their  case  being  in  this 
respect  solemnly  admonitory  to  the  king  of  Moab. 

Let  us  not  pass  this  historic  fragment  without  a 
passing  allusion  to  its  admirable  fitness  as  the  opening 
scene  in  Israel's  relation  to  hostile  foreign  powers. 
She  had  and  was  destined  to  have  national  enemies. 
It  was  clearly  in  the  policy  of  the  Lord  her  God  that 
she  should  fight  these  enemies  with  arms  in  deadly 
combat.  Hence  it  was  vital  that  she  should  be  taught 
in  the  outset  where  her  strength  for  victory  actually 
lay.  This  onslaught  of  Amalek  upon  her  rear  and  the 
ensuing  battle,  terminating  in  victory  through  prayer 
without  ceasing — the  uplifted  arms  of  their  Moses  sus- 
tained till  the  sun  set  upon  the  victorious  arms  of 
Joshua — became  their  standard  lesson — the  first  and 
the  permanent  example  to  show  them  the  fountain  of 
their  strength — the  ground  of  assured  victory  while 
they  lived  in  obedience  to  God  and  trusted  his  arm 

alone. It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  all  the  spiritual 

conflicts  of  God's  people  with  sin  and  Satan  fall  under 
the  same  general  law — victory  through  praj^er  sus- 
tained and  unfaltering — victory  in  the  strength  of 
Israel's  God  alone. 

Jelhro. 

In  Ex.  18,  Moses  narrates  a  visit  from  his  father-in- 
law  who  brought  to  him  his  wife  and  children,  left  in 


AMALEK.  231 

his  care  ever  since  the  scenes  of  which  we  read  Ex,  4  : 
18-26.  Jethro  is  before  us  here  as  both  a  good  and  a 
wise  man— good  in  that  his  heart  is  shown  to  be  with 
God  and  with  God's  people,  "  rejoicing  for  all  the  good- 
ness which  the  Lord  had  done  to  Israel  whom  he  had 
delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians"  (18:  9)  ; 
and  tvise  in  that  he  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  burdens 
then  borne  by  Moses  in  the  administration  of  justice 
among  the  people  would  soon  break  him  down ;  and  in 
his  admirable  suggestions  of  a  better  method  which  from 
that  day  became  established  among  the  Hebrew  people. 
For  both  reasons  such  a  visit  deserved  a  permanent 
record.  It  refreshes  us  to  think  of  that  good  man  Avho 
had  known  Moses  forty  years  as  his  worthy  son-in-law, 
yet  moving  onh'  in  the  humble  sphere  of  a  shepherd's 
wilderness  life  ;  but  now  meeting  him  God's  recognized 
Leader  of  the  thousands  of  Israel  and  hearing  from  his 
dps  the  wonders  God  had  wrought  on  Egypt  and  on 
Pharaoh ;  the  deliverance  from  national  bondage ;  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  entrance  upon  a  wilder- 
ness march  underneath  the  cloudy  pillar ;  subsisting  on 
the  "corn  of  heaven"  and  on  rivers  of  water  from  the 
rock  of  Rephidim ;  and  withal  having  just  then 
achieved  their  first  victory  over  the  first  foreign  power 
that  dared  assail  them  : — all  this  recital  from  the  lips 
of  such  a  son  must  have  moved  the  aged  father's  heart 
with  unwonted  emotions.  We  are  not  surprised  that 
he  should  exclaim:  "Blessed  be  the  Lord"  [your  na- 
tion's own  Jehovah]  "  who  hath  delivered  j-ou  out  of 
the  hand  of  the  Egyptians  and  out  of  the  hand  of  Pha- 
raoh. Now  I  know  that  the  Lord  is  greater  than  all 
gods,  for  in  the  thing  wherein  they  dealt  proudly,  he 

was  above  them  "  (18  :  10,  11). Then,  being  a  priest, 

["  priest  of  Midian  "  Ex.  2 :  16  and  18 :  1],  he  proceeded 
1o  offer  sacrifices  in  the  manner  which  had  come  down 
traditionally  from  the  earliest  fathers.  "  He  took  a 
burnt  offering  and  sacrifices  for  God ;  and  Aaron  came 
and  all  the  elders  of  Israel  to  eat  bread  with  Moses' 
father-in-law  before  God"  (v.  12).  The  term  "burnt 
offering  "  is  usually  applied  to  a  sacrifice  wkich  is  burnt 
entire  upon  the  altar.  The  phrase  "sacrifice  for  God," 
refers  here  to  a  peace-oflering  upon  portions  of  which 
the  worshipers  partook  in  the  manner  of  a  religious 
11 


232  SINAI. 

feast — an  act  at  once  religious  toward  God  and  social 
toward  man. 

The  next  day  Moses  resumed  his  accustomed  routine 
of  labor,  sitting  for  the  administration  of  justice  to  the 
people  from  morning  till  evening.  The  spirit  which 
we  see  in  Moses  where  he  appears  first  in  active  life 
(Ex.  2:  11-13)  would  naturally  put  him  to  this  service. 
His  prestige  as  the  recognized  Leader  of  Israel  under 
God  would  turn  the  eyes  of  all  the  people  to  him  as  their 
Judge.  Hence  naturally  this  overwhelming  burden, 
from  which  relief  came  through  the  wise  suggestion  of 
Jethro.  This  was  that  a  gradation  of  subordinate  courts 
be  instituted  so  that  cases  of  lesser  magnitude  and  diffi- 
culty might  be  administered  by  others,  and  only  the 
more  difficult  be  brought  before  Moses.  The  guiding 
principle  in  the  classification  was  at  first  both  tribal 
and  numerical — following  their  division  into  tribes  and 
their  numbers.  After  their  location  in  Canaan  the  nu- 
merical element  gave  place  to  the  geographical.  Judges 
had  their  province  and  their  responsibility  limited, 
not  by  thousands  and  hundreds  directly  but  by  cities 
and  localities.    With  this  modification  the  system  passed 

into   established  usage    among  the  Hebrews. In  a 

parallel  passage  (Deut.  1 :  9-18)  Moses  recites  the  same 
transaction,  omitting  all  allusion  to  his  father-in-law, 
and  giving  prominence  to  the  qualities  requisite  in 
judges,  and  to  the  principles  of  justice  and  righteous- 
ness by  which  they  were  to  be  governed. At  the  close 

of  this  brief  interview  Jethro  returned  to  his  home  and 
people.  His  son  Hobab,  brother-in-law  of  Moses,  appears 
in  the  history  somewhat  later  (Num.  10:  29-32),  and 
seems  to  have  consented  to  act  as  guide  to  Moses  and 
Israel  in  their  march  from  Sinai  to  Kadesh,  and  not 
improbably  until  they  reached  the  Jordan.  The  home 
of  the  family  had  been  on  the  East  and  South  of  Horeb. 
In  the  period  of  the  Judges  and  onward  they  are  in  tlie 
Northern  border  of  the  great  Arabian  desert.  (S";e 
Judg.  1:16  and  4:11  and  1  Sam.  15  :  6). 

The  Scenes  at  Sinai. 
The  National  Covenant  and  tlie  Giving  of  the  Law. 

Events  of  most  vital  bearing  upon  the  national  life 
of  the  Hebrew  people  are  now  before  us.     No  longer  one 


THE    NATIONAL   COVENANT.  233 

family  as  in  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob ;  no  longer 
a  mere  tribe,  clustering  several  families  under  one  or 
more  patriarchs,  but  a  group  of  many  tribes,  enlarging 
fast  toward  the  proportions  of  a  great  nation  ; — and 
what  is  more,  a  people  no  longer  under  the  emasculating 
incubus  of  bondage,  but  emancipated,  and  free  to  rise 
and  assume  the  duties  of  self-government  with  all  its 
possibilities  of  growth  and  improvement,  personal  and 
national — this  great  people,  were  at  this  point  sum- 
moned of  God  to 'enter  into  solemn  national  covenant 
with  himself  In  its  spirit  and  significance  this  cove- 
nant differed  in  no  essential  point  from  that  which  God 
made  with  Abraham  more  than  six  hundred  years  before. 
In  that  earlier  covenant  Abraham  spake  for  himself, 
and  so  far  as  it  was  naturally  possible,  for  his  posterity 
as  well;  and  God  on  his  part  promised  to  be  a  God  not 
to  him  only  but  to  his  seed  after  him;  yet  when  this 
seed  of  Abraham  became  a  great  people,  there  was 
si^ecial  fitness  in  summoning  them  to  renew  this  cove- 
nant/o?-  themselves.  Precisely  this  was  done  before  Sinai. 
The  Lord  reminded  them  most  appropriately  of  what 
he  had  so  recently  done  for  them.  "  Ye  have  seen  what 
I  did  unto  the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  j^ou  on  eagle's 
wings  and  brought  you  unto  myself."  It  was  as  if  he 
had  lifted  them  up  from  earth  toward  heaven  and  borne 
them  forth  and  out  from  their  national  bondage — as  the 
eagle  might  take  up  her  young  and  bear  them  aloft  be- 
yond the  reach  of  whatsoever  hostile  power  were  tied 
down  upon  the  eartli's  surface.  God  had  done  this  for 
the  definite  purpose  of  bringing  them  to  himself.  "Now, 
therefore,  (he  proceeds)  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed 
and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar 
treasure  to  me  above  all  people,  for  all  the  earth  is 
mine;  and  ye  shall  be  to  me  a  kingdom  of  priests  and 
a  holy  nation  "  (Ex.  19  :  4-6).  In  this  divine  proposal 
the  central  word,  translated  here  '*  peculiar  treasure," 
appears  in  Ps.  135  :  4  translated  in  the  same  way ;  but 
in  Deut.  7:  0  with  a  different  translation — "A  special 
people  unto  himself,  above  all  people  that  are  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth."  The  sense  is — a  special  property— 
a  people  by  the  choice  of  God  and  by  their  own  volun- 
tary consecration,  made  peculiarly  his  own.  j\Ioses  in 
Deuteronomy  (as  above)  labors  to  impress  n]ion  tlio 
[i'Mi])li'  tlie  thoughtand  purpose  of  CJod  in  this  (■dvciinnt 


234  SINAI. 

relation :  The  Lord  did  not  set  his  love  upon  you  nor 
choose  you  because  ye  were  more  in  number  than  any 
[  other  ]  people ;  for  ye  were  the  fewest  of  all  people  ; 
but  because  the  Lord  loved  you  and  because  he  would 
keep  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn  unto  your  fathers, 
hath  the  Lord  brought  you  out  with  a  mighty  hand 
and  hath  redeemed  you  out  of  the  house  of  bondmen 
from  the  hand  of  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt."  Of  kin- 
di'ed  significance  are  the  other  phrases  used  to  express 
their  new  proposed  relation  to  God — "  A  kingdom  of 
priests  and  a  holy  nation."  This  strong  language^"  a 
kingdom  of  priests  " — gives  us  the  thought  of  a  ivhole 
yeople — every  man  in  all  the  nation,  personally  conse- 
crated to  God,  as  if  the  nation  were  made  up  of  priests 
and  of  such  only.  God  would  have  them  understand 
that  the  holiness  he  required  of  them  was  not  the  pro- 
fessional service  of  a  chosen  few,  but  the  free-will  offer- 
ing of  every  man's  own  heart  and  life.  The  whole 
people — every  individual  man — was  summoned  to  come 
into  this  national  covenant.     Would  they  come? 

Moses  called  for  the  elders — who  acted  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  whole  people  and  "  laid  before  their 
faces  all  these  words  from  the  Lord."  At  once  all  the 
people  answered  together  and  said — "  All  that  the  Lord 

hath  spoken  we  will  do." Let  us  hope  that  a  fair 

proportion,  including  at  least  many  of  the  rej^resenta- 
tive  men  of  the  nation,  were  thoroughly  sincere  in 
this  profession.  It  would  be  grateful  to  our  feelings  to 
believe  that  they  all  both  understood  and  meant  what 
they  said.  But,  alas!  subsequent  developments  forbid 
this  belief.  It  was  however  the  formal  consent  of  the 
nation.  As  a  whole  people  they  gave  their  voice  to 
this  definite  proposal  from  the  Lord  their  God — that 
he  would  be  their  God  and  that  they  would  be  his 
people. 

The  next  thing  in  order,  is  the  giving  of  the  law.  A 
people  who  propose  to  be  the  Lord's  and  to  obey  his 
x'oice,  should  be  made  acquainted  with  his  will  in  the 
form  of  law.  They  must  be  informed  what  he  would 
have  them  do.  Rules  of  heart  and  life,  precepts  defin- 
ing the  reverent  homage  and  worship  due  to  God,  and 
the  acts  required  or  forbidden  as  toward  their  fellow- 
men  should  be  made   unmistakably  plain.      Prepara- 


THE   GIVING   OF   THE    LAW.  235 

tions  are  accordingly  made  for  the  formal  and  solemn 
promul,2;ation  of  this  great  moral  law.  It  is  noticeable 
tluit  in  these  preparations  nothing  seems  to  be  omitted 
that  might  conduce  to  a  deep  and  solemn  impression. 
The  people  are  specially  enjoined  to  sanctify  them- 
selves, and  two  full  days  are  set  apart  for  this  purpose. 
They  were  commanded  to  "  wash  their  clothes" — signifi- 
cant of  the  personal  purity  of  heart  which  God  re- 
quired.  Then   the  surroundings  were  of  the    most 

imposing  and  impressive  character.  The  whole  people 
M'ere  gathered  in  an  open  plain  which  lay  at  the  foot 
of  Sinai.  The  most  stringent  precautions  forbade  all 
curious,  irreverent  approach.  Not  a  man  or  beast 
might  touch  the  mountain  on  pain  of  death.  Definite 
bounds  were  set  for  the  people  over  which  no  one 
might  pass.  There  before  them  full  in  view  stood  the 
awful  mount — rugged,  grand,  cleft  with  fissures,  broken 
with  deep  ravines,  towering  in  sublime  height  and  all 
enwrapped  in  thick  clouds  out  of  which  lightnings 
flashed — the  whole  mountain  rocking  under  the  foot- 
steps of  the  Almighty  and  reverberating  with  his  aw- 
ful thunder,  and  the  voice  of  trumpet  exceeding  loud 
so  that  all  the  people  in  the  camp  trembled.  The 
written  description  of  this  scene  gives  us  a  sense  of  its 
ineffable  grandeur  and  sublimity.  "Mount  Sinai  was 
altogether  on  a  smoke  because  the  Lord  descended  upon 
it  in  fire ;  and  the  smoke  thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke 
of  a  furnace,  and  the  whole  mount  quaked  greatly. 
When  the  voice  of  the  trumpet  sounded  long  and  waxed 
louder  and  louder,  Moses  spake  and  the  God  answered 

him  by  a  voice." Essentially  the  same  descriptive 

l^oints  are  repeated  after  the  record  of  the  law  as  pro- 
mulgcd  from  Sinai  (Ex.20:  1S-21)._  "All  the  people 
saw  the  thunderings  and  the  lightnings  and  the  noise 
of  tlie  trumpet  and  the  mountain  smoking ;  and  when 
the  people  saw  it,  they  removed  and  stood  afar  off",  and 
said  to  Moses:  Speak  thou  with  us  and  we  will  hear; 
but  let  not  God  speak  with  us  lest  we  die."  See  also 
the  renewed  mention  of  this  scene  in  Deut.  4 :  10-12.* 


*  Bearing  in  mind  that  the  Israelites  had  lived  in  the  valley  of 
the  Nile,  all  unused  to  mountain  scenery,  we  may  readily  under- 
stand how  these  scenes  around  the  hase  of  Sinai  must  have  im- 
pressed them.     It  is  quite   in   place  here  to  bring  before  our  mind 


23G  SINAI. 

The  Moral  Law  as  given  from  Sinai. 

Passing  from  the  natural  surroundings  and  scenes  of 
Sinai  to  the  law  itself,  let  it  be  observed  carefully  that 
this  law  often  commandments  (Ex.  20:  1-17  and  Deut. 
5 :  6-21)  is  to  be  somewhat  broadly  distinguished  from 
the  other  "  statutes  and  judgments,"  whether  civil  or 

the  physical  features  of  this  wonderful  ^jlle  of  rocks  and  cliffs,  A 
modern  writer  supplies  tiie  following  sketch  : 

"The  entire  Sinaitic  group  presents  the  most  impi-essive  indica- 
tions of  tlie  terrible  convulsions  by  which  its  labyrinth  of  mountain 
heights  has  been  rent  and  torn  since  its  first  upheaval.  From  the 
summit  of  Mt.  Serbal,  as  from  a  watchtower  in  high  heaven,  one 
looks  down  upon  a  perfect  sea  of  mountain  ridges,  often  precipitous, 
always  intensely  steep,  and  culminating  in  a  sharp  edge  at  the 
height  of  two,  three,  or  four  thousand  feet  from  their  base.  The 
entire  line  of  these  mountains  is  seen  to  have  been  rent  transversely 
l)y  clefts  from  the  base  to  the  summit,  filled  with  injections  of 
basaltic  rocks,  striping  the  mountain  on  every  side  witli  black  bands. 
The  whole  assemblage  is  a  perfect  ganglion  of  ridges  thrown  up  in 
wild  confusion  with  its  strata  dislocated,  disjointed,  dipping  in  all 
directions  and  at  every  angle  from  horizontal  to  perpendicular. 
Tiie  mountains  of  Sinai  form  no  system,  no  regular  ranges,  like  the 
Alps,  the  Appenines,  the  Pvrenees,  or  the  mountains  of  America." 
(Bib.  Sac.  April  1867,  p.  25.3). 

Dr.  E.  Robinson  gives  his  impressions  from  personal  inspec- 
tion— tlius  :  "  Here  the  interior  and  loftier  peaks  of  the  great  circle 
of  Sinai  began  to  open  upon  us — black,  rugged,  desolate  summits ; 
and  as  we  advanced,  the  dark  and  frowning  front  of  Sinai  itself  (the 
present  Horeb  of  the  monks)  began  to  appear. The  scenery  re- 
minded me  strongly  of  the  mountains  around  the  Mer  de  Glace  in 

Switzerland.     I  had  never  seen  a  spot  more  wild  and  desolate. 

As  we  advanced  the  valley  still  opened  wider  and  wider,  shut  in  on 
each  side  by  lofty  granite  ridges  with  rugged,  shattered  peaks  a 
thousand  feet  high,  while  the  face  of  Horeb  rose  directly  before  us. 
Both  my  companion  and  myself  involuntarily  exclaimed:  ''Here 
is  room  enough  for  a  large  encampment"!  Iteaching  the  top  of 
the  ascent,  a  fine  broad  plain  lay  before  us,  sloping  down  gently 
toward  the  S.  S.  E.,  inclosed  by  rugged  and  venerable  mountains  of 
dark  granite,  stern,  naked,  splintered  peaks  and  ridges,  of  indescrib- 
able grandeur;  and  terminated  at  the  distance  of  more  than  a  mile 
by  the  bold  and  awful  front  of  Horeb,  rising  perpendicularly  in 
frowning  majesty  from  twelve  to  fii'teen  hundred  feet  high.  It  was 
a  scene  of  solemn  grandeur,  and  the  associations  which  at  the  mo- 
ment ruslied  upon  our  minds,  were  almost  overwhelming."  [Rob- 
inson's Researches  Vol.  I.  p.  1,30,  131.] This  plain  stretching  out 

from  the  foot  of  this  precipitous  mount,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  identical  place  where  the  people  were  gathered  to  see  the 
mountain  all  aflame — to  hear  the  sound  of  trumpet  long  and  loud, 
and  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  God  proclaiming  the  words  of  his  law. 


THE    LAW   OF    TEN    COMMANDMENTS.  237 

religious,  which  the  Lord  gave  to  Israel  by  the  hand  of 
INIoses; — this  distinction  being  apparent  in  the  follow- 
ing points  and  for  the  reasons  which  they  suggest : 

1.  It  was  proclaimed  by  God  himself  in  a  most  pub- 
lic and  solemn  manner  in  the  hearing  not  of  Moses 
alone,  but  of  the  elders  of  the  people  at  least,  if  not  of 
the  people  en  masse,  assembled  before  and  around  the 
glorious  mount. 

2.  It  was  given  under  circumstances  of  most  ap- 
palling majesty  and  sublimity — the  mountain  being 
enveloped  with  clouds  and  thick  darkness,  j'et  at  some 
moments  all  ablaze  with  the  lightning's  flash  and  rock- 
ing beneath  Jehovah's  feet. 

3.  It  Avas  written  by  the  finger  of  God  on  two  tables 
of  stone  (Deut  5 :  22). 

4.  It  differed  from  any  and  all  other  laws  given  to  Is- 
rael in  tliat  it  Avas  comprehensive  and  general  rather 
than  specific  and  particular. 

5.  It  was  complete,  being  one  finished  whole  to  which 
nothing  was  to  be  added — from  Avhich  nothing  was  ever 
taken  away.  ("And  he  added  no  more "  Deut  5 :  22. 
See  also  Mat.  5:  IS).  The  other  statutes,  as  we  shall 
see,  were  subjected  to  future  modification. 

6.  The  law  of  the  ten  commandments  was  honored  by 
Jesus  Christ  as  embodying  the  substance  of  the  law  of 
God  enjoined  upon  man.  With  a  master's  hand  he 
grasped  and  brought  out  its  two  great  principles,  under- 
lying all  the  precepts  :  Love  supreme  to  God :  love  equal 
and  unselfish  toward  fellow-men.  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself" 
(Mat.  22  :  36-40,  and  19:  18,  19  and  Mk.  12:  28-34). 

7.  It  call  scarcely  be  doubted  that  Jesus  had  his  eye 
specially  if  not  exclusively  on  this  law  (Mat.  5:  18)  as 
one  never  to  be  repealed — from  which  not  one  jot  or  tittle 
should  ever  pass  away. 

To  this  great  moral  law  of  ten  commandments  we 
now  give  special  attention  and  note — That  its  intro- 
duction (Ex.  20:  2),  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt — out  of  the 
house  of  bondage"- — is  special — not  general  and  uni- 
versal; is  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  Israel,  and 
gives  a  special  reason  why  they  should  honor  this  law 
as  coming  from  the  God  of  their  national  covenant,  the 
liedeemer  and  Savior  of  their  nation.     On  the  one  hand 


238  SINAI. 

this  special  reason  why  Israel  should  render  supreme 
homage  to  Jehovah  as  their  Deliverer  from  Egyptian 
bondage  neither  applies  specifically  to  all  mankind, 
nor  does  it  imply  that  this  law  is  not  binding  on  other 
people  than  Israel.  It  was  pertinent  that  as  given 
originally  to  them  it  should  be  preceded  and  introduced 
by  this  special  consideration,  so  pertinent  to  their  case. 
Yet  it  should  be  thoughtfully  considered — God  might 
have  said  most  truly  to  every  child  of  his  great  human 
family — I  am  He  who  gave  thee  thy  being  and  every 
good;  and  therefore  I  claim  thy  supreme  love  and  hom- 
age.  1  see  no  reason  to  question  that  this  clause  was 

put  on  the  two  tables  of  stone — its  sj)ecial  introduction 
as  given  to  the  children  of  Israel. 

I.  In  the  first  precept,  the  words  "before  me"  are 
(construed  variously.  The  most  usual  and  obvious 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  words  is — before  my  face. 
In  some  connections  the  preposition  might  mean  upon 
or  above.  "  My  face  "  is  thought  by  some  to  be  merely 
equivalent  to  myself.  Keil  translates — "literally  beyond 
me,  or  in  addition  to  mo,  equivalent  to  except  me,  or  by 
the  side  of  me."  He  rejects  the  construction,  "before 
me"  (in  my  presence)  as  incorrect,  and  also  condemns 
against  me — in  opposition  to  me.  Fuerst  has  it  "  above 
i.  e.  excejDt  me."  Murphy  says — "  before  me  "  is  literally 
"  upon  my  face."  It  supposes  those  other  gods  to  be  set 
up  before  the  true  God  as  antagonists  in  the  eye  of  God 
and  as  casting  a  shade  over  his  eternal  being  and  in- 
communicable  glory   in   the   eye   of   worshipers." 

The  two  constructions — beyond  me  and  above  me — are 
open  to  the  objection  that  they  seem  tacitly  to  admit 
other  gods  provided  they  are  inferior  and  that  God  is 
supreme.  I  prefer  as  the  more  obvious  and  natural 
construction — befo7-e  my  face.  Thus  the  precept  forbids 
homage  to  any  other  god  in  the  presence  of  the  supreme 
and  omniscient  Jehovah ;  and  by  consequence,  forbids 
divine  honor  to  any  other  being  or  thing  whatsoever. 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gocls  before  viy  face'^  seems 
to  imply  that  the  least  acknowledgment  of  other  gods 
is  in  its  very  nature  an  insult  to  Jehovah,  as  if  it  thrust 
those  gods  into  his  very  face — held  them  up  before  his 
eye  as  more  worthy  of  homage  than  he.  Moreover,  as 
no  possible  worship  of  other  gods  can  escape  his  eye,  or 
be  otherwise  than  thrust  up  before  his  face,  the  prohi- 


THE    LAW   OF   TEN    COMMANDMENTS.  239 

bition  necessarily  shuts  off  all  such  worship.  You  may 
never  worship  other  gods  than  the  One  Supreme  Being, 
for  it  is  simply  impossible  that  any  such  worship  can 
elude  his  eye,  and  you  must  not  put  it  before  his  face. 

11.  The  second  command  prohibits  the  making  and 
worshiping  of  images  designed  to  represent  idol  gods — 
imaginary  powers,  supposed  to  have  more  or  less  con- 
trol over  human  welfare.  It  equally  prohibits  images 
designed  to  represent  the  true  God.  All  such  sensuous 
conceptions  of  God  are  necessarily  debasing.  They  rest 
on  false  views  of  God;  tend  to  fearful  ancl  fatal  degen- 
eracy; and  must  therefore  be  forbidden  under  most 
stringent  penalties.  The  whole  history  of  our  race  wit- 
nesses to  the  infinite  mischief  wrought  by  such  sensu- 
ous conceptions  of  God,  as  well  as  by  the  notion  of  sub- 
ordinate powers,  lower  than  the  one  supreme  yet  more 
than  human.  This  has  been  one  of  Satan's  devices  to 
rule  God  out  of  his  universe  and  transfer  to  other  ob- 
jects the  worship  due  to  God  alone. 

This  prohibition  as  it  stands  here  is  not  enforced  by 
specific  penalties,  but  in  a  way  far  more  impressive  it 
bears  us  back  to  the  very  heart  of  God,  revealing  his 
holy  jealousy  of  any  rival  to  his  throne  who  would  Avrest 
and  steal  away  from  him  the  supreme  love  and  homage 
of  his  creatures,  and  give  it  to  supposed  gods  that  are 
no  Gods  at  all.  "  For  I  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the 
iniquitj^  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 

and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me." By 

the  very  law  of  tlie  family  relation,  the  great  sins  of  the 
father  send  their  curse  doAvn  upon  his  children.  He 
makes  them  heirs  to  an  inheritance  of  shame  and  sor- 
row. He  entails  calamity  upon  his  offspring.  Godless 
and  idolatrous  liimself,  he  makes  his  family  also  godless 
and  idolatrous.  The  influence  of  his  sin  will  naturally 
and  almost  inevital)ly  blight  the  morals  and  the  souls 
of  his  children  after  him,  and  of  his  children's  children. 
Let  this  fact  throw  its  shield  like  a  wall  of  fire  around 
him  and  his  family,  so  that,  if  not  for  his  own  sake,  at 
least  for  the  sake  of  his  unborn  offspring,  he  Avill  most 
sacredly  obey  this  command  and  abstain  from  the  least 
infringement  of  it  in  spirit  or  in  letter. 

"Visiting  iniquity"  and  "showing  mercy"  are  set 
over  against  each  other — the  penal  visitations  of  judg- 
ment for  this  sin  warning  men  against  it;  and  the  great 


240  THE    LAW   OF   TEN    COMMANDMENTS. 

promises  of  mercy  to  the  obedient  allurinp;  them  to  its 
most  diligent  observance.  Judgment  is  God's  strange 
work,  while  mercy  is  his  delight.  Therefore  we  have 
here  the  forceful  antithesis — the  visiting  of  the  iniqui- 
ties of  fathers  upon  children  to  the  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration, but  the  showing  of  mercy  unto  thousands  of 
generations  of  them  that  love  and  obey.  To  a  Hebrew 
mind  this  last  clause  of  the  second  command  would 
naturally  suggest  God's  mercies  to  Abraham,  the  well- 
known  friend  of  God,  upon  whose  posterity  God  was 
shedding  forth  his  blessings  to  thousands  of  generations. 
So  richly  does  the  loving  God  reward  his  dutiful  and 
trustful  children !  So  much  more  grateful  to  his  heart 
it  is  to  bless  even  to  the  thousandth  generation  than  to 
visit  iniquity  even  so  far  as  to  the  third  and  fourth ! 

It  should  be  carefully  noted  that  the  visiting  of  the 
iniquities  of  fathers  upon  sons  falls  only  upon  those  who 
Imte  him.  If  sons  in  any  future  generation  turn  from 
their  sinning  to  the  love  of  God,  his  merciful  loving- 
kindness  to  them  is  sure.  The  curse  visits  only  those 
who  persist  in  the  sin  of  their  fathers  despite  of  all  the 
warning  judgments  that  should  admonish  them  to  fear 
God.  (See  Ezek.  18). This  injunction  against  image- 
making  and  worship  would  naturally  suggest  to  the  men 
of  Israel  the  idolatrous  Egyptians.  Their  early  fathers 
received  from  Noah  the  knowledge  of  the  one  only  true 
God.  But  they  did  not  love  this  knowledge,  nor  the 
God  whom  it  revealed ;  therefore,  not  liking  to  retain 
tliese  views  of  the  pure  and  holy  God,  they  chose  to  think 
of  him  as  being  like  some  of  his  works  and  began  to 
worship  such  imaginary  gods ;  or  they  put  in  his  place 
some  lower  beings  or  powers  as  objects  of  worship. 
Hence  the  terrible  judgments  which  the  children  of 
Israel  had  seen  falling  upon  Egypt  and  her  idols. 

"Upon  those  that  love  me"  is  delightfully  suggestive 
of  the  great  truth  that  the  essence  of  all  acceptable  wor- 
ship is  love.  God  looks  complacently  on  his  human 
children  when  they  delight  in  his  glorv,  love  his  char- 
acter, rejoice  in  his  blessedness,  and  make  it  the  best 
joy  of  their  souls  to  please  him  by  doing  all  his  will. 
Such  love  legitimately  flows  out  in  reverent  worship 
and  adoring  homage.  Over  against  this  the  worship  of 
idols  in  place  of  God*  is  congenial  only  to  the  souls  that 
hate  God.     This  connnaud  assumes  that  those  who  wor- 


THE    LAW   OF   TEN    COMMANDMENTS.  241 

ship  other  gods  really  hate  the  one  Supreme  Jehovah. 
Therefore  it  is  that  his  jealousy  burns  against  them. 
They  -withhold  from  him  the  love  and  the  homage  of 
their  hearts. 

III.  In  the  third  command  the  exegetical  question  is 
whether  it  refers  primarily  and  properly  to  perjury,  or 
to  profanity,  i.  e.  whether  the  Hebrew  word  for  "m 
vain''  *  is  precisely  falsehood,  or  emptiness,  a  nothing, 
a  thing  of  no  worth.  The  current  of  critical  opinion 
(Gesenius,  Fuerst,  etc.)  goes  for  the  former,  falsehood ; 
and  makes  the  precept  in  its  strict  sense  condemn  per- 
jury. Thou  shalt  not  take  up  the  name  of  Jehovah  to 
a  falsehood — shalt  not  use  it  to  affirm  the  more  solemnly 
what  is  false.  Yet  as  what  is  false  has  no  foundation 
in  fact,  and  in  point  of  truth  is  nothing — is  only  an 
emptiness — it  comes  to  pass  that  this  Hebrew  word  takes 
not  infrequently  this  secondary  sense — what  is  empty, 
vain.  Hence  some  able  critics  [e.  g.  Keil]  construe  this 
precept  to  prohibit  "all  employment  of  the  name  of 
God  for  vain  and  unworthy  objects  so  as  to  include  not 
only  false  swearing,  but  trivial  swearing  in  the  ordin- 
ary intercourse  of  life  and  every  use  of  the  name  of  God 
in  the  service  of  untruth  and  lying — for  imprecations, 

witchcraft,  or  conjuring." The  construction  of  Keil, 

being  the  more  broad  and  comprehensive,  and  withal 
being  clearly  within  the  established  usage  of  the  orig- 
inal word,  is  to  be  preferred.  The  doctrine  of  inspiration 
is — "Thy  commandment  is  exceeding  broad"  (Ps.  119: 

96). The  name  of  God  is  associated  closely  with  the 

idea  and  thought  of  God.  Hence  all  irreverent  use  of 
this  name  naturally  begets  irreverence  of  spirit  toward 
God,  and  must  be  fearfully  pernicious.  Using  God's 
sacrexl  name  to  affirm  the  more  solemnly  a  falsehood  is 
more  than  mere  irreverence,  and  must  incur  his  high- 
est dis])leasure. 

The  fourth  command — -the  law  of  the  Sabbath — has 
been  alread}'-  treated  somewhat  fully  in  connection  with 
the  original  institution  of  the  Sabbath  in  Eden.  I 
ir.ust  dissent  entirely  from  those  critics  who  deny  the 
existence  of  any  Sabbath  law  prior  to  Sinai.  To  "  bless 
the  seventh  day  and  sanctify  it"  (as  said  in  Gen.  2 :  3) 
has  no  meaning  if  it  do  not  mean  that  God  required 
the   day  to   be   one  of  rest  from  labor — a  day  of  holy 


242  THE   LAW    OF    TEN    COMMANDMENTS. 

time,  devoted  to  other  than  ordinary  uses. Fully  in 

harmony  with  this  construction  of  these  words  is  the 
allusion  to  the  Sabhath  in  the  history  of  the  manna 
(Ex.  16:  22-30),  and  also  the  form  of  the  precept  here 
(Ex.  20:  8),  which  is  not  precisely — Thou  shalt  do  all 
thy  work  during  six  days,  but  none  on  the  seventh; — 
but  it  is  this :  "  JRcmember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it 
holy."  The  implied  injunction  of  the  w^ords  spoken 
in  Eden  was — make  it  a  holy  day.  God  blessed  the 
seventh  day  and  made  it  holy :  now,  therefore,  remem- 
ber that  original  injunction.  To  remember  a  previous 
day  made  holy,  must  surely  imply  a  precept  setting  it 
apart  as  holy  time. 

As  given  here  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  is  expanded 
into  its  legitimate  details.  The  prohibition  of  labor 
is  applied  to  children,  to  servants,  to  cattle  and  to 
strangers.  Then  the  reason  for  the  command,  essen- 
tially as  given  in  Eden,  is  reiterated;  "For  in  six  days 
the  Lord  made  heaven,  earth,  sea,  and  all  creatures ; 
but  rested  on  the  seventh  day ;  therefore  he  blessed  and 
hallowed  this  Sabbath-day."  Noticeably,  the  statement 
f()llowing  "  therefore,"  uses  the  same  Hebrew  verbs — 
"  bless,"  and  "  sanctify"  [or  "  hallow"]  which  are  used 

Gen.  2  :  3. It  seems  plainly  implied  that  God  places 

before  men  his  own  example  of  creative  Avork  during 
six  day-periods  and  of  rest  from  this  work  on  the  sev- 
enth as  a  reason  or  motive  for  their  observance  of  the 
Sabbath — one  day  of  rest  after  six  of  toil.  A  secondary 
consideration  is  doubtless  that  by  this  arrangement 
the  Sabbath  would  be  perpetually  suggestive  of  man's 
relation  to  God  as  his  Infinite  Creator  and  -Father. 
The  linking  of  the  Sabbath  to  God's  creative  work  and 
rest  would  naturally  make  that  work  a  fact  ever  pres- 
ent to  human  thouglit — blending  its  influence  with 
the  sacredness  and  with  all  the  employments  of  this 
holy  day.  Man  desists  from  labor.  Why?  Because 
God  did.  After  what  labor?  That  of  making  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  and  man.  Therefore  let  man 
remember  God  as  his  Creator  and  render  him  the  hom- 
age of  obedience  and  the  homage  of  adoration,  grati- 
tude and  praise.  Thus  the  historic  origin  of  the 
precept  became  suggestive  of  the  thoughts,  the  words, 
and  the  divine  worship  appropriate  to  this  holy  day. 

It  is  scarcely  in  place  here  to  discuss  the  Christian 


THE    LAW  OP    TEN    COMMANDMENTS.  243 

change  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  tlie  week, 
further  than  to  remark  that  a  similar  suggestive  in- 
fluence came  in  as  the  purpose  and  object— //^e  choice 
of  the  day  suggesting  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  The  orig- 
inal reference  to  God  as  Creator  need  not  be  practically 
lost :  but  we  may  practically  gain  a  second  group  of 
suggestive  and  most  vital  truths — those  which  cluster 
round  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord. 

V.  The  fifth  command  consecrates  its  strength  to 
the  family  relation.  Addressed  to  children  it  requires 
them  to  honor  their  father  and  their  mother,  and  makes 
obedience  the  condition  of  long  life  and  prosperity  in 
the  land  of  their  promised  inheritance.  As  read  in 
Ex.  20:  12  the  command  specifies  only  long  life,  but 
as  repedted  in  Deut.  5:  16,  "that  it  may  go  Avell  with 
thee" — is  added.  General  prosperity  is  however  in- 
volved and   implied  in  length  of  days. Obviously 

this  honor  carries  with  it  obedience  as  well  as  due  re- 
spect. Such  honor  is  vital  to  the  happiness  and  the 
value  of  the  family  relation.  Witliout  it  no  founda- 
tion can  ever  be  laid  for  a  useful  and  worthy  after-life. 
It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  earliest  training 
of  the  infant  mind  Godward  should  begin  with  culti- 
vating the  honor  and  obedience  due  to  father  and 
mother.  Through  all  the  earliest  developments  of  the 
infant  and  youthful  mind,  the  parent  is  to  the  child 
in  the  place  of  God.  The  same  qualities  of  character, 
the  same  obedience,  respect,  and  deference,  which  God 
requires  toward  himself  are  to  be  first  implanted  and 
developed  in  the  mind  toward  the  human  jDaront. 
Failing  of  their  due  development  in  this  antecedent 
relation,  they  are  almost  certain  never  to  be  developed 
toward  God:  a  fatal  defect  in  character  is  fastened  upon 
the  child;  a  cast  of  mind  is  determined  which  but  too 

surely  ends  in  hopeless  ruin. It  is  noticeable  that 

this  very  association  of  ideas,  uniting  the  homage  due 
to  parentage  and  years  with  the  honor  duo  to  God  ap- 
pears in  the  Mosaic  law  (Lev.  19:  32);  "Thou  shalt 
rise  up  before  the  hoary  head  and  honor  the  face  of  the 
old  man ;  and  fear  thy  God :  I  am  the  Lord." 

VI.  The  next  four  precepts  are  a  series  beginning 
with  the  most  vital,  designed  to  protect  the  rights  of 
person  and  life ;  of  chastity  ;  of  property ;  and  of  repu- 
tation.     The  precepts  forbid  murder,  adultery,  .theft, 


244  THE   LAW  OP   TEN    COMMANDMENTS. 

false  witness,  or  defamation.  The  prohibition  of  mur- 
der must  be  construed  broadly  enough  to  forbid  personal 
injuries  on  the  one  hand ;  and  on  the  other  all  those 
passions — hate,  malice  prepense — which  naturally  lead 

on  toward  violence  and  murder. The  prohibition  of 

adultery  in  like  manner  forbids  not  only  all  illicit  sex- 
ual connection,  but  even  unchaste  desire  (Matt.  5 :  27, 
28).  So  the  prohibition  of  theft  devolves  the  duty  of 
caring  for  our  neighbor's  property  so  far  as  the  law  of 
loving  our  neighbor  as  ourself  would  require.  It  is  not 
enough  that  we  do  not  take  his  property  and  appro- 
priate it  to  our  own  use.  We  must  protect  his  right  to 
his  property  as  he  should  ours.  In  like  manner  the  law 
forbidding  the  bearing  of  false  witness  against  our 
neighbor  involves  the  duty  of  protecting  and  cherish- 
ing his  reputation.  We  may  never  forget  that  our 
neighbor's  good  name  is  a  treasure  to  him  which  we 
not  only  must  not  steal  away,  but  must  so  far  as  in  us 
lies  guard  and  defend  as  if  his  good  were  worth  as 
much  as  our  own.  The  one  comprehensive  principle 
which  embraces  all  these  points  of  law  toward  our 
neighbor  and  determines  their  true  interpretation  is 
given  in  the  law  of  Moses  as  well  as  in  the  law  of 
Christ. — "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself" 
(Lev.  19  :  34  and  Matt.  22  :  39  and  19  :  19).  As  to  this 
passage  from  Moses  it  should  be  noted  that  in  terms  it 
speaks  not  precisely  of  one's  neighbor  but  of  the 
stranger — one  toward  whom  you  are  wont  to  think  your 
obligations  less  than  toward  any  other  human  being; 
for  he  is  not  a  brother  born  of  the  same  father — not  a 
relative  of  the  same  tribe — not  a  citizen  of  the  same 
commonwealth  or  nationality ;  but  an  alien,  a  foreigner, 
a  stranger  toward  whom  you  recognize  no  other  rela- 
tion than  that  of  a  fellow-being  of  human  kind.  Of 
such  an  one  the  law  holds — "  The  stranger  that  dwoll- 
eth  with  you  shall  be  unto  you  as  one  born  among  you, 
and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself;  for  ye  were  strangers  in 
the  land  of  Egypt :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God" — and  I 
enjoin  upon  j'ou  this  all-embracing  love  fur  the  lowest 
of  human  kind. 

It  should  be  carefully  noted  that  although  this  group 
of  four  commands  (6-9)  in  each  case  specifies  the  ex- 
treme form  of  the  sin,  the  law  by  no  means  limits  its 
prohibition  to  this  extreme  form.     Killing  is  the  ex- 


THE   LAW  OF   TEN   COMMANDMENTS.  245 

treme  of  personal  violence;  adultery  (strictly  the  crime 
of  the  married)  is  the  most  aggravated  form  of  unchas- 
tity;  theft  is  more  than  simply  being  reckless  of  your 
neighbor's  property;  and  false  witness  naturally  con- 
templates a  case  in  court — public,  formal,  and  of  most 
grave  and  momentous  consequences; — yet  in  each  and 
every  one  of  these  prohibitions  it  behooves  us  to  remem- 
\)er  that  God  looks  at  the  heart ;  that  the  spirit  is  more 
than  the  letter ;  that  the  law  which  specifics  the  ex- 
treme form  of  a  special  sin  forbids  with  its  full  force  all 
the  lower  grades  and  all  the  less  flagrant  and  revolting 
forms  of  the  same  sin.  Vie  wrong  ourselves  most  fear- 
full}^  when  we  labor  to  ease  our  conscience  by  limiting 
the  prohibitions  of  God's  law  to  the  extreme  forms  of 
sin  which  may  be  named  in  the  statute.  It  is  always 
our  highest  Avisdom  to  deal  very  honestly  with  our  own 
conscience  as  before  God  in  the  construction  and  appli- 
cation of  his  law. 

The  tenth  and  last  commandment  is  peculiar,  as 
compared  with  all  others  of  the  second  table,  in  this 
point — that  it  specifies  no  external  act  wdiatever  but 
lays  its  prohibition  directly  upon  the  heart.  "Thou  shalt 
not  covet " — shalt  not  allow  thyself  to  desire  in  such  a 
way  as  might  tempt  thee  to  try  to  obtain — thy  neigh- 
bor's house,  wife,  servants,  cattle,  or  any  thing  that  he 
has.  This  law  aims  to  forestall  temptation.  It  strikes 
at  the  root  of  such  sins  as  theft  and  adulter}^  by  forbid- 
ding any  such  desire  as  might  move  you  toward  the  sin. 
It  may  be  regarded  as  shielding  both  of  the  two  parties  ; 
the  one  who  might  commit  the  sin,  and  the  one  against 
whom  the  sin  might  be  committed.  It  throws  its  shield 
over  him  who  might  otlierwise  be  tempted,  and  it  also 
becomes  in  so  far  a  safeguard  around  him  who  holds 
treasures  which  lustful  e3'es  might  covet. 

Let  us  not  omit  to  notice  that  it  was  this  precept 
which  opened  the  spiritual  eye  of  Paul  and  gave  him  a 
new  view  of  the  breadth  and  true  significance  of  God's 
law.  "I  had  not  known  sin,  (said  he)  but  by  the  law ; 
for  I  had  not  known  lust  except  the  law  had  said.  Thou 
shalt  not  covet "  (Rom.  7 :  7).  His  Pharisaic  training 
(we  may  suppose)  had  been  scrupulous  over  the  tenth 
part  of  the  mint  and  anise  and  cummin — had  taken 
even^ ostentatious  care  of  the  external  matters  of  the 
law ;  but,  alas  !  had  left  the  heart  out.     Here  at  the  close 


246  rROGRESSIYE    REVELATIONS. 

of  the  law  of  Sinai — last  among  the  precepts  that  treat 
of  duty  to  our  neighbor — stands  one  which  puts  its 
finger  squarely  upon  the  licart.  It  says — "  Thou  shalt  not 
covet."  It  not  only  suggests  that  God  looks  within  the 
soul  of  man  for  sin,  but  it  demands  that  every  man  shall 
look  there  too  and  put  his  own  restraining  hand  directly 
upon  those  rising  desires  which,  indulged,  would  push 
him  into  overt  sin.  Moreover,  this  one  precept  may  be 
sup|)Osed  to  have  suggested  to  the  mind  of  Paul  that 
the  whole  law  of  God  must  be  construed  on  this  heart- 
principle — that  every  precept  it  contains  goes  beyond 
the  letter  to  the  spirit — pushes  its  demand  deeper  than 
the  outward  act,  even  to  the  inner  thought,  passion,  and 
purjwse  of  the  soul.  This  view  put  the  law  of  God  in 
a  new  light — we  might  even  say — revealed  a  new  law 
to  his  soul.  It  gave  him  a  new  field  for  self-examina- 
tion ;  brought  up  new  sins  never  seen  or  dreamed  of 
before,  and  at  once  demolished  hopes  of  favor  before  God 
and  of  salvation  on   which  he  had   perilously  leaned 

through  all  his  Pharisaic  life. "Tliy  commandment " 

(said  one  of  the  Psalmists)  "  is  exceeding  broad  "  (Ps. 
119:  96).  We  are  not  to  think  of  all  the  Old  Testa- 
ment saints  as  Pharisees.  Let  us  rather  hojDe  that  many 
of  them  read  in  the  law  of  Sinai  the  law  of  love,  and 
adjusted  to  it,  not  the  outward  life  only  but  the  very 
heart  as  well. 

Progress  in  the  Revelation  of  God  to  Man. 

The  first  twenty  chapters  of  Exodus  cover  a  period' 
eminentl}^  rich  in  point  of  progress  in  revealing  God  to 

the  race. More  fully  than  ever  before  God  manifested 

those  sj^ecial  elements  of  his  character  which  are  un- 
folded in  the  new  name  Jehovah — I  am  that  I  Am  (Ex. 
3:  14).  He  had  given  promises  before  ;  then  he  came 
forth  to  f til  fill  them.  He  had  talked  with  the  patriarchs 
about  faith,  and  had  sought  to  inspire  it  in  their  souls. 
In  these  great  deeds  for  his  people  he  gave  them  dem- 
onstrations of  his  eternal  faitlifulness — a  basis  on  which 
their  faith  might  rest,  and  also  the  faith  of  every  child 
of  his  through  all  the  future  ages.  God  came  exceed- 
ingly near  to  his  afflicted  people  in  Egypt,  and  never 
missed  any  opportunity  of  suggesting'  and  imprqssing 
the  idea  tliat  these  tender  testimonies  of  his  love  were 


PROGRESSIVE    REVELATIONS.  247 

in  proof  of  his  fidelity  to  promise — were  the  very  acts 
which  his  covenant  with  Abraham  involved  and  called 
for — called  for  of  their  covenant  God  not  in  vain. 

Again,  we  see  here  the  piossibility  of  very  great  intimacy 
of  commurdon  between  God  and  man.  As  bearing  on  this 
point  the  reader  will  review  the  scene  between  Moses 
and  the  Lord  at  the  burning  bush;  in  his  mission  to 
Pharaoh;  in  the  special  directions  given  him  in  regard 
to  the  sending  of  each  several  plague,  and  usually  as  to 
its  removal  as  well.  Did  ever  earthly  Potentate  stand 
on  more  intimate  terms  with  his  prime  minister  ?  Or 
military  chieftain  with  his  subordinate  officer  ?  If 
Moses  was  at  any  point  reluctant,  under  a  conscious 
sense  of  capacities  unequal  to  the  work  and  of  difficul- 
ties he  could  not  surmount,  did  he  not  bring  the  matter 
before  the  Lord  with  at  least  as  much  freedom  as  the 

case  could  justify? Especially  when  we  think  of 

Moses  coming  so  near  to  Jehovah  in  his  majesty  wield- 
ing the  terrific  agencies  of  flood  and  storm  and  fire,  of 
darkness  and  lightning  and  the  voice  of  trumpet  ex- 
ceeding loud — Mt.  Sinai  rocking  beneath  his  feet,  and 
Moses  alone  drawing  near  the  Awful  Presence  and 
talking  with  God  face  to  face  there — what  shall  we  say 
of  the  ]iossil)ilities  of  communion  between  man  and  his 
Maker?  Whatever  speculations  we  may  have  as  to  the 
means  and  methods  by  which  the  thought  of  God  was 
borne  to  the  mind  of  Moses  and  the  thought  of  Moses 
to  the  mind  of  God,  the  great  fact  of  communion  of  mind 
with  mind — thought  meeting  thought — of  command 
from  the  superior  jmrty,  received  and  obe5'ed  by  the  in- 
ferior— is  on  the  outer  face  of  the  whole  history  and 
admits  of  no  question.  God  can  speak  to  man  so  that 
man  shall  know  the  voice  to  be  his  and  comprehend 
perfectly  its  significance.  Kelations  of  obedience,  con- 
fidence, and  love  on  the  part  of  man  toward  his  Maker 
are  established,  and  God  meets  them  with  appropriate 
manifestations  of  his  favor. 

This  great  fact  is  one  of  telling  significance  in  the 
whole  province  of  Christian  experience.  Its  significance 
can  not  terminate  with  the  present  life  but  must  pass 
on  to  be  unfolded  far  more  gloriously  in  the  revelations 
of  the  eternal  world.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  "  [in  all 
points]  "what  we  shall  be" — but  it  does  appear  that 
God  has  made  us  capable  of  exceedingly  intimate  rela- 


248  PROGRESSIVE    REVELATIONS. 

tions  to  himself— as  we  shall  know  more  perfectly  when 
we  shall  sec  as  we  are  seen  and  know  as  also  we  are 
known. 

Yet  again;  This  portion  of  historic  revelation 
abounds  ivith  testimonies  to  the  power  of  prayer  and  to  its 
place  in  the  relations  of  God  to  man  and  of  man  to  God. 
We  see  these  revelations  in  the  histor}^  of  the  plagues 
on  Egypt.  So  palpahly  manifest  was  the  power  of 
Moses  with  God  in  prayer  that  even  proud  Pharaoh 
saw  and  recognized  it.  Over  and  over  again  the  king 
besought  the  praj^ers  of  the  man  of  God — apparently 
with  unlimited  confidence  that  God  would  grant  what- 
ever he  should  ask.  Though  he  never  had  seen  such 
power  in  prayer  before,  the  force  of  the  facts  was  too 
great  to  be  resisted.  For  once  he  became  so  far  a  be- 
liever in  the  communion  of  man  with  God,  and  also  in 
the  power  of  God  to  work  wonders  which  man's  power 
alone  could  never  reach. 

The  war  scenes  with  Amalek  and  tlie  prayer  which 
turned  the  victory  to  Israel's  side  will  be  readily  re- 
called. As  already  suggested,  this  specimen  case, 
brought  out  so  perfectly  in  the  first  national  conflict  of 
arms,  was  well  adapted  to  send  down  to  future  ages  the 
great  secret  of  success  against  their  national  enemies. 
How  happy  for  Israel  if  it  had  never  been  forgotten ! 
How  well  for  the  Christian  world  if  the  lessons  of  that 
scene  were  faithfully  transferred  and  applied  in  all 
spiritual  conflicts  against  foes  within  and  foes  without 
which  pertain  to  this  ever  militant  state! 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  speak  in  fuller  detail  of  the 
revelations  of  God  to  man  throKc/h  miracle.  Every  page 
of  this  history  teems  with  miracles.  Take  the  miracles 
away,  and  truly  there  would  be  nothing  left.  The  rev- 
elations of  God's  will  to  Moses ;  the  judgments  on  Egypt ; 
the  redemption  of  his  people  from  bondage  there;  the 
scenes  at  the  Red  Sea;  the  bread  and  the  water  for  his 
needy  people  ;  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire ;  the  glories 
of  Sinai  and  the  giving  of  his  law  in  voice  of  majesty : — 
what  are  all  these  but  miracles — the  Great  God  over- 
stepping the  ordinary  course  of  nature  to  impress^him- 
self,  the  power  of  his  arm,  the  mandates  of  his  will — 
upon  human  minds?  No  other  such  chapter  on  mir- 
acles appears  in  the  Old  Testament.  Nowhere  else  do 
they  cluster  so  grandly;  not  elsewhere  do  they  so  much 


PROGRESSIVE    REVELATIONS.  249 

supersede  the  common  laws  of  nature  and  2;ive  char- 
acter to  the  entire  course  of  the  divine  administration. 
Most  abundantly  do  they  testify  that  the  arm  of  the 
Lord  is  equal  to  any  result  which  his  wisdom  may 
devise.  If  he  has  purposes  to  accomplish  he  can  not 
lack  the  means  or  the  power  necessary.  The  ace  of 
miracles  can  be  brought  round  again  if  so  he  wills  it. 
But  more  to  our  purpose  is  the  inference  to  the  ade- 
quacy of  his  resources  in  general,  whether  w^ith  or  Avith- 

out  miracle. Yet  let  us  not  miss  the  more  vital  truth 

that  this  cluster  of  miracles  aimed  to  witness  to  God's 
present  hand  working  with  Moses,  endorsing  his  mis- 
sion and  accrediting  his  Avords  from  the  most  High. 
God  was  then  specially  active  in  "making  history" 
(shall  wo  say?) — making  Imtory  to  put  into  his  Bible. 
The  Bible  was  growing;  the  great  crisis  which  devel- 
oped into  the  birth  of  the  Hebrew  nation  Avas  then 
transpiring;  God's  plans  for  training  a  people  who 
should  be  holy  to  himself — the  repository  of  his  truth — 
the  church  of  the  living  God — Avere  then  rapidly  un- 
folding; and  no  vital  step  in  this  process  could  sj^are  the 
agency  of  miracle. 

Yet  again;  In  this  portion  of  sacred  history  much 
new  light  has  been  throAvn  upon  GocVs  management  of 
great  sinners.  Pharaoh  was  a  standard  case  of  this  sort. 
As  already  suggested,  there  are  many  aspects  of  this 
management.  On  one  side  we  see  the  strong  arm, 
putting  his  hook  into  the  jaAvs  of  Leviathan — curbing 
his  spirit,  breaking  doAvn  his  poAver;  burAnng  him  and 
his  hosts  in  the  sea.  On  another  side  are  unfolded  the 
nice  relations  of  even  this  resistless  jDOAver  to  the  free 
moral  activities  of  the  great  sinner ;  the  Avonderful 
blending  of  mercies  with  judgments;  the  patient  wait- 
ing—if possibly  these  manifestations  of  God's  hand 
may  bring  the  proud  king  to  real  submission ;  and 
coupled  Avith  this,  the  steady  purpose  on  God's  part  to 
turn  all  Pharaoh's  pride  and  guilt  and  moral  obduracy 
to  best  possible  account — setting  forth  his  mode  of  deal- 
ing Avith  Avicked  men  in  making  knoAvn  his  power  to 
save  his  people  and  to  crush  their  foes,  and  his  unfail- 
ing Avisdom  in  making  the  Avrath  of  the  proudest  of 
mortals  evolve  his  OAvn  glory  and  praise. 

The  scenes  of  Sinai  were  a  long  and  magnificent  step 


250  PROGRESSIVE    REVELATIONS. 

of  progress  in  the  revelations  of  God  to  men.  We  may 
think  here  not  so  much  of  the  external  surroundings — 
the  bringing  into  service  of  all  the  grandest  agencies  of 
nature  to  impress  men  with  reverence  and  fear  and 
awe,  and  so  to  plant  the  more  deeply  in  their  souls  the 
idea  of  law  as  emanating  unmistakably  from  the  In- 
finite One;  but  we  may  consider  the  great  fact  itself  of  a 
revealed  law.  It  is  surely  a  point  in  the  progress  of 
God's  revelations  of  himself  second  to  nothing  that  has 
gone  before — second  to  nothing  in  all  the  ages  save  the 
greater  mission  of  his  Son  for  the  purposes  of  re- 
demption. God  revealing  to  man  a  rule  of  duty;  ex- 
pressing it  in  terms  at  once  so  simple  and  so  compre- 
hensive; including  the  duties  we  owe  to  God  on  the  one 
hand  and  to  fellow-beings  on  the  other;  putting  it  on 
permanent  record;  accompanying  it  Avith  demonstra- 
tions of  majesty  and  glory,  endorsing  it  so  surely  and 
so  sublimely ;  adjusting  it  so  nicely  in  harmony  with 
the  intelligent  convictions  of  rational  minds,  and  so 
commending  it  to  every  man's  conscience  as  intrin- 
sically and  eternally  right : — truly  the  promulgation  of 
such  a  law  through  such  agencies  is  sur23assingly  grand 
and  glorious ;  and,  in  the  line  of  our  present  thought,  is 
one  of  the  great  epochs  in  the  march  of  God's  revela- 
tions of  himself  to  mortals.  We  pause  before  it  to  take 
in  the  value  of  this  revealed  law ;  the  new  relations 
into  which  the  race  are  brought  thereby  toward  their 
Great  Father;  and  the  bearings  of  this  law  upon  the 
Avhole  plan  of  God's  moral  administration  toward  our 
fallen  race. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


THE  HEBREW  THEOCRACY. 

Natueally  following  the  national  covenant  (Ex.  19) 
and  the  giving  of  the  law  from  Sinai  (Ex.  20)  and 
preliminary  to  the  civil  code — "the  statutes  and  judg- 
ments"—comes  in  the  Theocracy — a  term  used  to  desig- 
nate the  system  of  government  established  for  the  He- 
brew people. 

Here  we  may  consider  briefly  the  following  points: 

I.  The  Supreme  Power. 

II.  The  powers  of  Jehovalih  vicegerents— his  chief  exec- 
utive officers. 

III.  The  general  assembly  or  congregation,  and  their 
elders. 

IV.  The  scope  afforded  for  self-government-democ- 
racy. 

V.  The  fundamental  principles  of  this  entire  sf}\stem. 

VI.  Its  union  of  church  and  state. 

VII.  Its  principles  and  usages  in  respect  to  icar,  with 
a  notice  of  the  war-commission  against  the  doomed 
Canaanites. 

I.   The  Supreme  Potver. 

God  himself  was  king.  In  every  respect  the  su- 
preme power  was  his.  Precisely  this  is  the  sense  of  the 
term  ^' theocracy  ^^ — a  government  of  God. 

Tliis  comprehensive  fact  appears  in  the  following 
particulars : 

1.  God  demanded  supreme  homage  as  their  king  (Ex. 
19:  6  and  Deut.  6:  4-15,  and  7:  G-11,  and  10:  12-21, 
and  33  :  4,  5  and  1  Sam.  8  :  0-8,  and  10 :  18, 19  and  .ludff. 
8 :  23). 

2.  God  enacted  the  statutes.  He  was  the  Supreme 
Lawgiver.  We  sometimes  speak  of  the  ^'Mosaic  code," 
of  the  "statutes  of  Moses,"  meaning  by  tliese  phrases 
only  that  the  statutes  came  from  God  to  the  people  by 
tlie  hand  of  Moses;  never  that  Moses  was  himself  the 

f25n 


252  THE    THEOCRACY. 

author  of  these  statutes — the  true  legislator.  (See  Ex. 
21:  1  andDeut.  6:  1). 

3.  God  nominated  the  chief  executive.  He  called  l\Ioses 
(Ex.  3 :  10,  12,  and  4 :  16  and  1  Cor.  10 :  2) ;  and  Joshua 
(Num.  27  :  18-23  and  Deut.  3 :  28,  and  31 :  3  and  Josh. 
1 :  and  5 :  13-15).  The  same  was  true  of  the  Judges, 
raised  up  for  special  emergencies  (Judg.  2 :  16,  18,  and 
3  :  9,  15,  and  4 :  6,  and  6 :  12,  etc.,  etc.)  God  called  the 
Inngs:— Saul  (1  Sam.  9:  17,  and  10:  1);  also  David  (1 
Sam.  13 :  14,  and  16 :  1  and  2  Sam.  5 :  2  and  Ps.  78  :  70, 
71) ;  and  to  name  no  more,  Solomon  (1  Chron.  28  :  5). 

4.  In  all  cases  not  otherwise  provided  for,  the  ulti- 
mate appeal  Avas  to  God.  In  point  we  have  (Num.  16 
and  17)  a  case  of  resistance  to  the  authority  of  Moses — 
incipient  rebellion.  God  interposed  with  his  supreme 
authority.  We  have  a  case  in  civil  law,  not  reached  by 
the  statutes,  viz.  the  entailment  of  real  estate  in  a  fam- 
ily of  daughters  only.  Moses  brought  it  before  the 
Lord  for  adjudication  (Num.  27 :  5).  A  special  pro- 
vision respecting  the  marriage  of  daughters  holding 
property  in  land  became  necessary :  this  new  law  was 
sought  from  God  (Num.  36:  6). A  criminal  case  oc- 
curred in  which  the  law  was  not  explicit ;  "  it  was  not 
declared  what  should  be  done"  with  the  criminal 
(Num.  15  :  32-36).     The  Lord  gave  them  the  law  for 

the  case. In  the  case  of  Achan  (Josh.  7)  the  Lord 

interposed,  not  so  much  because  there  was  no  laAV  for 
its  decision  as  because  the  sin  was  flagrant  and  the 
demand  for  exemplary  punishment   was   very   great. 

In  cases  Avhich  would  appropriately  require    the 

calling  of  a  Supreme  Council,  the  people  sought  di- 
rection from  God.  (See  Judtj.  1:  1,  and  20:  18,  27,  28 
and  1  Sam.  14:  37,  and  23  :  2,  4,  9-12,  and  28  :  6,  and  30: 
8  and  2  Sam.  2 :  1).  God  made  provision  through  the 
prophets  for  a  direct  revelation  of  his  will  to  the  people 
in  special  cases  not  otherwise  provided  for  (Deut. 
18:  18). 

5.  In  later  times  the  demand  of  the  people  for  a  hu- 
man king  seemed  to  bo  constructive  treason.  It  might 
be  so  understood,  and  therefore  the  Lord  reasserted  his 
prerogative,  although  he  yielded  to  their  demands  (1 
Sam.'^S:  6-9,  and  10-  17-25). 

6.  It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  God  bound  himself  by 
promise  to  reward  tlie  people  with  all  national  prosper- 


THE    POWERS    OF    JEHOVAh's    VICEGERENT.  253 

ity  if  obedient,  and  by  threatening:,  to  punish  them 
with  national  calamity  for  disobedience.  These  points 
are  expanded  fully  Lev.  26:  and  Dent,  chapters  27-30. 

That  God  inflicted  these  threatened  punishments 

early  in  their  nation's  history  maybe  seen  Num.  11: 
33,  and  16:  1-50. 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  every  appropriate  way  and 
in  numerous  vital  respects  God  manifested  his  supreme 
authorit}^  over  his  people  Israel. 

II.   Tlie  2'>owcrs  of  Jchova/is  vicegerent. 

(-)f  this  we  have  illustrations  in  the  cases  of  Moses, 
Joshua,  the  Judges,  and  the  kings.  These  cases  show 
that  they  Avere  precisely  the  Lord's  prime  ministers, 
commissioned  to  execute  his  will.  If  a  law  touching 
tlie  case  existed  and  its  application  was  clear,  they 
simply  adjudicated  the  case  and  put  the  law  in  force. 
If  no  statute  touching  the  case  was  extant,  they  sought 
one.  If  the  application  of  the  law  baffled  their  wis- 
dom, they  sought  counsel  from  God.  Hence  the  Scrip- 
tures speak  of  these  prime  ministers  as  the  Lord's 
"servants,"  to  serve  him  in  this  high  capacit3^  (See 
Num.  12 :  7  and  Heb.  3:  2,  5  and  Josh.  1 :  1,  2,  and  5 : 
13-15  and  2  Sam.  7  :  8,  etc.) 

Of  the  officers  holding  under  the  chief  executive 
there  is  no  occasion  to  speak  in  great  detail.  The  sys- 
tem of  subordinate  judges — lower  courts — has  come  to 
view  in  the  history  of  Jethro  (Ex.  18).  In  Canaan 
they  held  their  courts  in  the  gates  of  large  cities,  and 
(for  certain  criminal  cases)  in  the  cities  of  refuge  which 
were  cities  of  the  Levites — from  which  tribe  judges 
seem  largely  to  have  been  drawn. 

The  ''  elders  " — "  heads  of  the  house  of  their  fathers  "— 
hold  important  responsibilities — a  fact  due  largely  to 
the  influence  of  the  patriarchal  system  which  had  come 
down  from  the  earliest  times,  the  usages  of  which,  there- 
fore, had  essentially  the  force  of  common  law  in  Israel. 
It  was  in  great  measure  due  to  them  that  after  the 
death  of  Joshua  the  processes  of  government  went  on 
without  any  chief  executive,  Avith  no  king,  and  with  no 
Supreme  Judge  except  as  the  High  Priest  may  have 
performed  that  function. 


254  THE   THEOCRACY. 

III.  The  General  Assembly  or  Congregation,  and  the 
Elders. 

We  read  of  great  conventions,  congregations,  assem- 
blies, in  which  it  is  not  definitely  said  that  all  the 
people  were  there;  and  also  of  convocations  in  which 
"all  the  people"  were  present.  In  some  at  least  of  the 
cases  of  the  latter  sort,  the  elders  seem  to  have  acted 
distinctly  from  the  masses  of  the  people,  being  the 
media  of  communication  (as  the  case  may  be)  between 
the  Lord  or  his  servant  Moses  of  the  one  party  and 
the  people  at  large  of  the  other.  Thus  shortly  before 
the  giving  of  the  law  from  Sinai  when  God  ratified  a 
national  covenant  with  the  people,  Ave  read — "Moses 
called  for  the  elders  of  the  people  and  laid  before  their 
faces  all  these  words  which  the  Lord  commanded  him. 
And  all  the  people  answered  together  and  said — All 
tliat  the  Lord  hath  spoken  we  will  do"  (Ex.  19 :  7,  8). 
Moses  spake  to  the  people  through  their  elders.  It  was 
naturally  impossible  that  any  one  human  voice  could 

be  heard  by  six  hundred  thousand  men. So  in  1  Sam. 

8:  4-10  "the  elders  gathered  together  and  said  to  Sam- 
uel, Make  us  a  king ;"  "  and  the  Lord  said  unto  Samuel, 
Hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the  people."  "  And  Samuel  told 
all  the  words  of  the  Lord  unto  the  people  that  asked  of 

him  a  king." These  elders — chiefs  of  the  people — 

seem  to  have  been  a  well-defined  class.  Note  how  they 
are  designated  (Num.  1 :  16)  ;  "  These  are  the  renowned 
[Heb.  the  called  oyies']  of  the  congregation,  princes  of  the 
tribes  -of  their  fathers,  heads  of  thousands  in  Israel." 
Also  Num.  16:  2:  "Two  hundred  and  fifty  princes  of 
the  assembly,  famous  in  the  congregation"  [Heb.  the 
crdled  ones  of  the  congregation,  i.  e.  the  men  summoned 

to  represent  t-heir  constituents],  "  men  of  renown." 

The  question  will  arise  whether  these  ccdled  men,  the 
recognized  heads  and  representatives  of  the  people,  held 
specially  delegated  powers;  whether  they  were  ap- 
pointed for  an  occasion  and  were  instructed  by  the 
people:  or  whether  they  held  the  headship,  this  repre- 
sentative power,  by  virtue  of  the  ancient  usages  of  the 
patriarchal  system.  The  latter  is  the  true  view,  for  the 
patriarchal  system  had  the  prestige  of  common  law ; 
and  we  find  not  the  least  hint  of  any  election  of  these 
"  heads  of  the  house  of  their  fathers"  for  any  suecial 


SCOPE   FOR   DEMOCRACY.  255 

function — no  notice  of  their  receiving  special  instruc- 
tions to  act  as  delegated  representatives  of  the  people. 

Let  it  be  noted  carefully  that  on  all  really  great 

occasions  -when  the  vital  issues  of  their  covenant  rela- 
tion with  God  were  pending,  "all  the  people" — the 
solid  masses — were  convened,  and  of  course  their  elders 
and  high  officers  with  them.  We  see  such  a  case  before 
Sinai  (Ex.  19) ;  another,  shortly  before  the  death  of 
Moses,  in  a  solemn  ratification  of  their  national  cove- 
nant: "Ye  stand  this  day  all  of  you  before  the  Lord 
3'our  God;  your  captains  of  your  tribes,  your  elders 
and  your  officers,  with  all  the  men  of  Israel"  (Deut. 
29:  10-12),  "that  thou  shouldest  enter  into  covenant 

with  the  Lord  thy  God,"  etc. Again ;  after  they  had 

entered  Canaan  in  the  scene  of  rehearsing  the  blessings 
and  the  curses  of  the  law  from  Mt.  Gerizim  and  Mt. 
Ebal :  "  And  all  Lsrael  and  their  elders  and  officers  and 
their  judges,  stood,'"  etc.  (Josh.  8  :  33).  See  also  Josh. 
23 :  2  and  24 :  1  and  Judg.  20 :  1  and  1  Sam.  8.  It 
was  supremely  appropriate  that  every  man  of  Israel 
should  give  his  voice  and  heart  in  these  great  national 
consecrations  of  themselves  to  their  nation's  God.  The 
Lord  sought  to  call  into  action  every  mind — to  make  a 
deep  moral  impression  on  every  lieart.  Therefore  none 
could  be  exempted;  no  man  could  be  excused  for  ab- 
sence. 

IV.  The  scope  afforded  under   this   system   for  sclf- 
(jovernme  n  t — democracy. 

It  is  readily  obvious  that  under  this  theocracy,  the 
function  of  legislators  was  out  of  the  question.  The  peo- 
ple did  not  make  their  own  laws :  these  were  given 
them — made  by  the  Lord  alone.  It  only  remained  for 
them  to  say  whether  they  would  accept  the  Lord  their 
God  as  their  Lawgiver  and  Supreme  King.  Such  as- 
sent and  consent  on  their  part  was  appropriate ;  and 
])recisely  this  they  gave — as  we  mav  see  in  the  case  of 
the  moral  law  of  Sinai  (Ex.  19:  3-8  and  Deut.  5:  27, 
28) ;  and  of  all  the  statutes  and  judgments  of  their  civil 
code  (Ex.  24 :  3).  This  national  recognition  of  God  as 
Supreme  Lawgiver  was  renewed  from  time  to  time 
with  subsequent  generations  of  Israel  (Deut.  29:  10-15 
and  Josh.  24:  15-27  and  Neh.  10:  28,  29),  etc. 
12 


2c56  THE   THEOCRACY. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  laws  under  which  they 
lived  were  not  arbitrarily  imposed  upon  them  without 
their  consent — much  less,  against  their  will;  but  only 
with  their  formal  and  solemn  consent.  So  far  forth, 
their  government  involved  an  element  of  freedom  and 
of  self-control.  They  were  not  tyrannously  coerced  into 
subjection  to  laws  which  they  repudiated.  A  system 
of  law,  in  itself  most  excellent  and  entirely  unexcep- 
tionable, was  presented  to  them  for  their  adoption  or 
rejection.  They  adopted  it — apparently  with  the 
warmest  approbation. 

Essentially  the  same  principle  obtained  in  regard  to 
their  highest  human  executive  officer.  They  did  not 
nominate  and  choose  Moses  of  their  own  motion.  No 
caucus,  no  primary  meeting,  no  formal  election  brought 
out  his  name  as  the  choice  of  the  people.  The  Lord 
alone  raised  up  Moses,  prepared  him  for  the  position 
he  was  to  hold  and  brought  him  before  the  people. 
Then  they  received  him  as  their  leader  (Ex.  4 :  29-31 
and  20 :  19  and  Deut.  5 :  27).  In  the  same  manner 
they  accepted  Joshua  (Josh.  1:  16-18).  In  the  case  of 
Saul,  their  first  king,  the  Lord  nominated,  and  the  peo- 
ple ratified  his  nomination  (1  Sam.  10 :  24  and  11 :  14, 
15).  The  Lord  called  David  also  (1  Sam.  16:  1-12), 
but  the  people  accepted  him  as  king  and  cordially  rati- 
fied his  divine  nomination  (2  Sam.  5 :  1-3).  Through 
his  prophet  Nathan  the  Lord  gave  the  kingdom  to 
David's  posterity  (2  Sam.  7 :)  and  prophetically  indi- 
cated Solomon  (i  Chron.  22 :  8,  9  and  1  Kings  1 :  13,  29, 
30);  but  the  people  still  gave  their  full  hearted  con- 
sent (1  Kings  1 :  39,  40).  The  same  powers  were  as- 
serted by  the  people  in  the  case  of  Rehoboam  (1  Kings 
12:  1-20). 

It  should  be  specially  noted  that  when  the  govern- 
ment assumed  the  form  of  a  human  monarchy — an 
earthly  king  reigning  under  God  in  this  real  theocracy 
it  was  a  limited,  not  an  absolute  monarchy.  The  IMo- 
saic  law  anticipated  this  change  and  imposed  certain 
constitutional  limitations  upon  the  prospective  king 
(Deut.  17:  14-20).  He  must  be  one  whom  the  Lord 
s-hould  choose ;  of  native  and  not  foreign  birth  ;  must 
not  multiply  horses,  nor  wives,  nor  treasures  of  silver 
and  gold;  must  keep  by  him  a  copy  of  the  law  given 
through  Moses,  jimst  read  it  and  regard  it  as  the  con- 


SCOPE    FOR   DEMOCRACY.  257 

stitution  under  which  he  reigned.  When  the  demand 
for  a  king  arose  Samuel  forewarned  the  people  of  the 
assumptions  of  power  which,  by  the  usages  of  mankind, 
they  must  expect  in  their  king  (1  Sam.  8:  10-17),  and 
took  the  precaution  to  put  in  writing  "the  manner  of 
the  kingdom" — the  constitutional  provisions  and  safe- 
guards under  which  he  was  to  reign  (1  Sam.  10:  25). 
No  copy  of  this  constitution  has  come  down  to  us ;  but 
it  doubtless  corresponded  essentially  with  the  limita- 
tions made  by  the  law  of  Moses  as  in  Deut.  17 :  14-20. 
The  voice  of  the  people  in  self-government  appears 
also  in  the  appointment  of  the  judges  who  were  to  ad- 
minister the  law  in  courts  of  justice.  We  have  seen  how 
the  old  patriarchal  system  Avas  enlarged  and  modified 
at  the  suggestion  of  Jethro  (Ex.  18  :  13-26).  This  first 
narrative  seems  to  rest  the  appointment  of  these  judges 
entirely  with  Moses ;  but  his  own  more  detailed  account 
(Deut.  1 :  9-18)  shows  that  the  people  were  heard  in  the 
nomination  :  "  Take  you  wise  men  and  understanding, 
and  known  among  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them 
rulers  over  you.  And  ye  answered  me  and  said — The 
thing  Avhich  thou  hast  spoken  is  good  for  us  to  do.     So 

1  took  the  chief  men  of  your  tribes,  wise  men  and  known, 
and  made  them  heads  over  you,"  etc.  Plainly  these 
men  had  acquired  position  by  merit,  and  held  their 
place  and  power  (before  this  special  appointment)  by 

the  general  consent  of  the  people. The  general  law 

in  the  case  runs — "Judges  and  officers  shalt  thou  make 
thee  in  all  thy  gates,  etc.,  and  they  shall  judge  the  i^eo- 
ple  with  just  judgment "  (Deut.  16  :  18). 

Self-government  is  further  developed  in  the  independ- 
ent action  which  we  may  notice  occasionally  in  the 
several  tribes.  Especially  in  the  period  from  Joshua 
to  Saul,  the  several  tribes  acted  singly,  or  in  union 
with  one  or  more  of  their  fellow-tribes  at  their  option 
(Judg.  1 :  1-3,  22  and  4 :  10  and  7 :  23,  24  and  8 :  23, 
and  20:    11-46).      Special  cases   of  this  independent 

action  appear  in  1  Chron.  4 :  41-43  and  5 :  18-23. On 

great  occasions,  the  people  convened  en  masse  for  delib- 
eration and  united  action  as  in  Josh.  22  :  12, 16  and  2,  3: 

2  and  Judg.  20  and  21. Obviously  they  assumed  the 

ritrht  to  disapprove  the  action  of  their  princes  as  in  the 
ease  of  the  Gibeonites  (Josh.  9:  18,  19)— "  All  the  con> 
gri'gation  murnmred  against  the  princes." 


258  THE    THEOCRACY. 


V.   The  Fundamental  Principles  of  this  entire  System. 

1.  Jehovah  being  their  Supreme  King,  supreme  love 
and  worship  must  be  rendered  to  him. 

2.  Idolatry  was  a  state  offense,  nothing  less  than  high 
treason,  and  therefore  a  capital  crime,  punishable  with 
death.  Anyone  of  their  cities,  given  to  idolatr}^,  must 
be  utterly  exterminated  (Deut.  13:  1-18  and  17:  2-7). 

3.  The  most  stringent  laws  ordained  non- intercourse 
with  idolatrous  nations  and  non-conformity  to  their 
customs.  Inter-marriages  with  them  were  strictly  pro- 
hibited; trade  and  commerce  were  at  least  discouraged 
if  not  forbidden.  These  laws  may  be  seen  in  Ex.  34  : 
11-17  and  Deut.  7:  1-5,  16,  23-26;  and  cases  of  their 
application  in  Num.  25  and  31 ;  also  in  Ezra  9  and  10 
and  Neh.  13:  23-31. 

Sundry  customs,  some  of  which  might  in  themselves 
be  of  small  account,  were  prohibited,  apparently  because 
associated  with  idolatry  in  the  usages  of  other  nations 
and  in  the  ideas  of  the  people  of  Israel  (Deut.  14:  1-21 
and  Lev.  20  :  23-26).  The  distinction  between  clean 
and  unclean  beasts  seems  to  fall  under  this  principle. 

4.  This  Hebrew  Theocracy  was  engrafted  upon  a 
previously  existing  patriarchal  government,  and  there- 
fore it  recognized  this  previous  system  as  substantially 
the  common  law  of  the  land,  to  be  in  force  except  so  far 
as  modified  by  special  legislation  under  the  new  regime 
given  from  the  Lord  through  INIoses.  This  principle  is 
illustrated  in  the  powers  and  functions  of  the  elders, 
known  as  "heads  of  the  house  of  their  fathers"; 
"  princes  " ;  "  heads  of  the  thousands  of  Israel  "  (Ex.  6 : 
25,  and  Num.  3 :  24,  30,  35,  and  1 :  16,  and  10 :  4). 

5.  It  was  manifestly  an  accepted  principle,  underlying 
the  entire  system,  to  give  the  people  as  wide  a  range 
of  free  responsible  action  as  a  theocratic  government 
would  admit.  Democracy  must  of  necessity  be  subor- 
dinate to  theocracy;  the  self-ruling  of  the  people  must 
find  its  place  under  the  supreme  ruling  of  Jehovah. 
Consequently  the  law  must  come  entire  from  God,  not 
from  the  people.  The  chief  executive  must  receive  his 
commission  from  God,  tliough  he  might  be  formally  ac- 
cepted and  his  appointment  in  this  way  ratified  by  the 
people.     The  Lord  sought  the  willing  homage  of  tlie 


ITS   UNION  OF    CHURCH  AND   STATE.  259 

peoj)le — the  obedience  of  their  heart — and  therefore 
encouraged  the  most'  cheerful  and  hearty  expression 
of  their  will  and  of  their  homage  in  entering  into 
covenant  with  himself,  and  from  time  to  time  in 
solemnly  renewing  it.  He  would  have  them  feel 
that  they  were  the  people  of  the  Lord  by  their  own 
real  consent  and  hearty  acceptance.  So  much  democ- 
racy therefore  entered  into  their  scheme  of  national 
polity.  So  much  there  might  be.  In  the  nature  of  a 
theocracy,  there  could  not  be  more. 

6.  As  elsewhere  shown,  the  statutes  were  within  cer- 
tain limits  graduated  in  moral  tone  to  the  moral  status 
of  the  peoi^le,  being  as  high  as  they  would  bear — as  near 
theoretical  perfection  as  could  be  made  effective — i.  e. 
as  could  secure  a  general  obedience. 

A"I.  Its  union  of  Church  and  State. 

By  this  modern  phrase  is  currently  meant  the  subor- 
dination of  the  church  to  the  civil  or  state  authorities. 
Such  a  union  in  the  Hebrew  nation  was  a  natural  con- 
sequent upon  a  theocratic  government.  The  civil  code 
coming  from  God  himself,  the  religious  code  must  come 
from  him  by  obvious  fitness,  not  to  say  necessity.  In 
his  entire  policy  with  Israel,  God  sought  the  most  ef- 
fective moral  culture.  We  find  this  purpose  underlying 
the  entire  civil  government  with  its  code  of  civil  laws; 
it  must  of  course  underlie  their  religious  institutions. 
Hence  the  church  and  the  state  were  worked  not  only 
by  the  same  hand  but  for  the  same  general  purpose. 

In  practice  certain  crimes  against  the  religious  law 
were  enforced  by  the  state.  Idolatry  was  a  state  ofl'ense, 
]>unishable  as  other  state  crimes.      So  of  perjury  and 

])lasphemy.     (Deut.  19 :  16-19.) It  was  due  to  the 

common  relations  of  church  and  state  that  to  a  great 
extent  the  religious  orders  were  civil  judges.  In  the 
absence  of  a  king  or  other  chief  executive,  the  High 
Priest  seems  to  have  held  that  function.  (See  Deut. 
17:  12  and  2  Chron.  19 :  8-11).  The  subordinate  judges 
were  largely  taken  from  the  priests  and  Levites  (Deut. 
21:5,  and  33  :  10). 

Since  the  system  provided  for  an  ultimate  appeal  to 
God,  extreme  cases  were  taken  up  for  the  sake  of  such 
appeal  to  the  one  place  which  was  for  the  time  the  seat 


260  THE   THEOCRACY. 

of  God's  special  manifestations  to  his  peoj^le  (Deut.  17 : 
8-13,  and  19 :  17). 

The  wisdom  of  this  joint  action  of  the  civil  law  with 
the  reli,2;ious  admits  in  their  case  of  no  question.  It 
may  suffice  to  refer  in  proof  to  the  omnipresent  power 
of  idolatr}'-  through  all  the  ages  from  Moses  to  the  cap- 
tivity, to  show  the  vital  need  of  the  civil  arm  to  sustain 
tlie  true  worship  of  God  and  save  the  nation.  On  the 
other  hand  the  state  was  the  stronger  for  her  religious 
institutions.  The  great  religious  festivals,  bringing 
the  masses  of  the  male  population  from  every  tribe 
three  times  a  year  for  a  sacred  Aveek  of  communion 
must  have  been  of  priceless  value  in  sustaining  the  na- 
tional unity  and  a  national  patriotism.  Jeroboam  was 
sharp  enough  to  see  that  the  calves  at  Bethel  and  Dan 
must  take  the  place  of  the  festivals  at  Jerusalem,  or  his 
kingdom  would  melt  away  from  under  him,  and  his 
people  give  their  civil  fealty  as  well  as  their  religious 
homage  at  the  old  center.  Hezekiah  would  have 
brought  the  ten  tribes  back  if  he  could  have  drawn 
their  people  in  a  body  to  the  great  Passover,  as  he 

sought  to  do. Hence  it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  the 

state  was  the  stronger  for  the    national  religion,  and 

their  religion  the  stronger  for  the  aid  of  the  state. 

Yet  let  none  rush  to  the  inference  that  such  mutual 
relations  of  church  and  state  are  therefore  wise  and  use- 
ful in  the  Christian  age  of  the  world.  The  providences 
of  God  shut  off  from  the  primitive  church  the  possibil- 
ity of  such  union  and  shut  up  Christianity  to  make  her 
first  great  conquests  under  the  sturdy  opposition  of  the 
greatest  civil  power  of  the  age.  Experience  has  long 
since  disproved  the  inference  above  referred  to.  The 
cases  are  too  dissimilar  to  admit  of  any  logical  reason- 
ing from  that  age  to  this. 

in  the  Hebrew  economy  we  are  struck  with  the  fact 
that  both  the  religious  and  the  civil  code  were  enforced 
chiefly  by  considerations  and  influences,  rewards  and 
punishments,  coming  in  from  the  present  world — not 
from  the  future.  Let  it  be  supposed  that  religious 
duties  were  in  our  age  enforced  by  such  motives 
chiefly — and  we  should  see  at  a  glance  the  change  that 
has  passed  over  the  world  since  Moses  uttered  the  con- 
cluding chapters  of  Deuteronomy.  Idolatry,  then  the 
head  sin  of  the  ages,  was  fitly  resisted,  not  only  by  the 


THE    HEBREW    CODE   ON    WAR.  261 

civil  arm,  but  by  the  most  fearful  array  of  civil  pains 
and  penalties.  The  capital  sins  of  Christendom  are 
now  of  quite  other  sort;  and  the  motives  to  repent- 
ance come  appropriately  from  the  other  worlds  yet  be- 
fore us  and  not  from  this.  It  may  be  difficult  for  us  to 
realize  how  stern  the  necessity  was  that  God  should  in 
the  earlier  ages  govern  the  world,  and  not  least  his  own 
])eople,  by  motives  from  the  visible  and  not  from  the 
invisible  world — from  earth  and  time  and  the  present 
life,  and  not  from  the  eternal,  the  future  and  yet  unseen 
state. 

[This  subject  will  receive  further  attention  near  the 
close  of  this  volume]. 

VII.  The  princij'Aes  and  usages  of  the  Hebrew  code  in  re- 
spect to  war;  with  some  notice  of  the  ivar-cdict  for  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  Canaanites. 

By  their  constitution  the  war-power  was  with  God. 
The  power  and  the  right  to  declare  war  rested  in  him 
alone.  He  forbade  them  to  make  war  on  Edom ;  he 
commanded  them  to  exterminate  Amalek  and  the  de- 
voted nations  of  Canaan,  and  to  "  vex  the  Midianites 
and  smite  them "  (As  to  Edom,  see  Deut.  2 :  5 ;  as  to 
Amalek,  Ex.  17  :  8,  14,  16  and  Deut.  25  :  17-19;  as  to  the 

]\[idianites.    Num.    25:    17,    18,    and    31:). Their 

rulers  were  expected  to  bring  the  question  before  the 
Lord— Shall  I  in  this  case  go  up  to  battle,  or  shall  I 

forbear?     (Judg.  1 :  1,  and  20:  18,  23,  28). Any  one 

tribe  might  go  out  to  war  alone,  or  might  call  in  the 
aid  of  another  or  of  all : — a  fact  which  shows  that  the 
tribes  were  confederated  rather  than  united  and  consol- 
idated. On  great  occasions,  of  common  danger,  all  the 
tribes  associated  together,  and,  Avith  certain  specified 
exceptions,  every  man  able  for  war  was  required  to  go. 
The  exceptions  are  given  (Deut.  20 :  5-8) ;  viz.  the  man 
who  had  built  a  house,  but  had  not  dedicated  it ;  he 
who  had  planted  a  vineyai^d  but  had  not  eaten  of  its 
fruits;  he  who  had  betrothed  a  Avife,  yet  had  not  taken 
her;  and  finally,  every  fearful  and  faint-hearted  man; — 
i.  e.  all  who  had  special  attractions  homeward  which 
might  tempt  them  to  desert  the  ranks,  and  they  whose 
timid  hearts  made  them  worthless  and  might  be  con- 
tagious:— in  the  words  of  the  statute,"  Lest  his  broth- 


262  THE   THEOCRACY. 

er's  heart  faint  as  well  as  his  heart."  Personal  heroism 
was  of  prime  account — a  heroism  inspired  by  faith  in 
Israel's  God.  The  history  cvery-where  shows  that  such 
armies,  fired  with  religious  enthusiasm,  strong  by  faith 
in  the  mighty  God,  were  terrible  in  battle,  and  for  the 
most  part  certain  of  victory.  Often  as  we  read  these 
annals  of  the  wars  of  Israel,  we  can  not  resist  the  con- 
viction that  they  were  means  of  grace  as  well  as  of 
manhood — an  illustration   of  which  may  be  seen   in 

David  before  Goliath  the  Philistine  (1  Sam.  17). 

When  only  a  small  number  of  men  were  needed,  they 
were  chosen,  picked  men,  naturally  the  brave,  skilled, 
and  renowned.  See  Joshua's  first  battle  fEx.  17 :  9)  ; 
his  assault  upon  Ai  (Josh.  7 :  7),  and  the  sifting  of  Gid- 
eon's army  (Judg.  7  :  1-8 J. 

The  grant  of  Canaan  to  Israd  and  tlie  commission  to  extir- 
pate the  Canaanites. 

These  points  call  for  special  examination. 

It  has  been  objected  against  the  morality  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  that  this  war-law  enjoining  the 
extirj^ation  of  the  Canaanites  was  cruel  and  unjust; 
hence  that  it  either  misrepresents  God  and  therefore 
disproves  the  divine  authority  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
or  if  it  truly  represents  the  God  of  the  Bible,  then  he 
does  not  deserve  the  homage  and  the  love  of  his  creat- 
ures.  These  are  grave  charges  and  should  be  candidly 

examined. 

The  grant  of  Canaan  and  the  commission  to  destroy 
the  Canaanites  have  been  vindicated  by  ]\richaelis  and 
others  on  the  following  grounds. 

1.  The  right  of  prior  possession  and  occupation. 

2.  This  right  kept  good  by  burial  there,  and  not  by 
any  means  relinquished  when  Jacob  was  driven  by 
stress  of  famine  into  Egypt  and  then  detained  there  by 
force. 

3.  This  right  protected  according  to  their  ability  by 
reassertion,  perpetually  holding  forth  their  purpose  to 
return  and  their  recognition  of  Canaan  as  their  land  of 
promise. 

4.  That  no  argument  prejudicial  to  their  right  of 
war  against  the  Canaanites  can  be  drawn  from  the  ab- 
sence of  formal  manifesto,  setting  forth  the  causes  of 
the  war,  inasmuch  as  such  a  setting  forth  of  grounds 


THE   AVAR-LAW    AGAINST    CANAANITES.  263 

and  causes  of  war  is  a  thing  of  modern  and  not  of 
ancient  usage. 

This  course  of  argument  in  defense  of  the  war-law  in 
question  seems  to  me  defective  and  quite  below  the 
truth  in  the  following  points : 

1.  Its  primary  position — prior  occupancy — seems  not 
fully  made  out, 

2.  It  makes  too  little  account  of  God's  original  and 
perfect  title  to  all  the  earth,  and  his  consequent  right 
to  give  his  j)eoi5le  any  portion  of  it  at  his  pleasure. 

3.  It  fails  to  give  due  prominence  to  the  moral 
grounds  assigned  by  God  himself  for  the  extirpation  of 
the  Canaanites,  viz.  their  extreme  debasement  in  char- 
acter; their  abominable  wickedness;  their  horrible 
violations  of  the  common  humanities  of  social  life. 

As  to  prior  occupation,  Michaelis  says  the  original 
home  of  the  Canaanites  was  Arabia;  that  Herodotus 
testifies  that  at  first  they  dwelt  near  the  Red  Sea; 
Justin,  that  they  had  another  country  before  they 
came  to  Palestine;  and  Abulfeda  that  they  dwelt  in 
Arabia.  But  in  proof  that  they  were  in  Palestine  be- 
fore Abraham  was,  Moses  affirms  (Gen.  12 :  6)  that 
Avhen  Abram  first  passed  through,  "the  Canaanite  was 
then  in  the  land ;"  also  that  when  Abram  and  Lot,  be- 
ing rich  in  cattle  and  "the  land  unable  to  bear  them," 
"  the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  were  then  in  the 
land"  (Gen.  13:  7);  and  further  still  in  his  earliest 
account  of  the  location  of  primitive  families  after  the 
Hood,  he  says — "The  border  of  the  Canaanites  was 
from  Sidon  as  thou  comest  to  Gerar  unto  Gaza  as  thou 
goest  to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,"  etc.  (Gen.  10 :  19). 
This  is  the  oldest  known  historic  testimony,  and  un- 
questionably locates   the    Canaanites   in    the  original 

land  of  Canaan. Moreover,  it  is  said  that  Abraham 

went  with  his  flocks  and  herds  wherever  he  would  as 
if  lord  of  the  country.  It  may  be  replied — So  appar- 
ently did  the  Canaanites  also.  If  Abraham  dug  wells, 
so  did  they;  if  he  buried  his  dead  there,  so  did  they-- 
with  this  incidental  fact  in  their  favor;  viz.  that  Abra- 
ham bought  ground  of  them  and  paid  money  for  his 
cemetery  at  IMacpelah.  This  special  argument  from 
prior  possession  can  scarcely  be  sustained. 


264  THE   THEOCRACY. 

But  it  may  be  maintained  that  Abram  was  there 
very  early;  and  what  is  more,  God's  first  call  to  him  to 
leave  his  native  country  named  Canaan  as  his  promised 
land ;  and  every  successive  promise  reaffirmed  this  gift. 
Abraham's  title  to  Canaan  therefore  rests  on  God's 
vight  to  give  a  perfect  title.  If  the  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth,  the  Great  Creator  of  all  lands  in  all  the  ends  of 
the  earth  had  not  a  right  to  give  Canaan  to  Abraham 
and  his  posterity,  then  he  is  not  God.  Unquestionably 
he  assumed  this  right  and  in  the  exercise  of  it  pledged 
Canaan  to  the  posterity  of  Abraham  with  perpetual 
reitei'ation  and  most  solemn  covenant.  This  fact  is 
the  more  significant  because  it  is  the  first  step  in  a 
series  of  acts  all  of  which  aimed  to  reveal  himself  be- 
fore the  world  of  mankind  as  the  true  God  and  the 
Lord  of  the  whole  earth.  With  these  ends  in  view  he 
chose  this  people  and  made  them  his  own;  manifested 
himself  among  them  and  before  all  the  world  as  their 
covenant-keeping  God;  gave  them  Canaan,  and  by 
manifold  miracles  helped  them  to  gain  possession  of  it. 
Nor  is  this  argument  weakened  by  the  fact  that  by 
means  of  a  special  series  of  providences  he  led  them 
down  into  Egypt  to  dwell  there  430  years;  suffering 
the  Canaanites  meanwhile  to  hold  Canaan,  not  driving 
them  out  earlier  because  "  the  iniquity  of  the  Amorites 
was  not  yet  full"  (Gen.  15:  16).  Here  is  suggested 
the  real  ground  on  which  the  edict  for  extirpating  the 
Canaanites  was  made  to  rest.  God  suffered  them  to 
remain  there  until  they  had  forfeited  their  title  not  to 
Canaan  alone,  but  to  life  itself  and  to  any  further  na- 
tional existence. 

This  point  is  too  vital  to  be  passed  without  careful 
attention.  In  Lev.  LS  we  meet  with  a  series  of  crimes 
against  moral  purity — violations  of  the  seventh  com- 
maufkiient — culminating  in  sodomy  and  bestiality; 
and  classed  with  these  is  the  burning  of  children  in 
the  worship  of  Moloch  (v.  21).  Then  God  says — "  De- 
file not  yourselves  in  any  of  these  things;  for  in  all 
these  the  nations  are  defiled  which  I  cast  out  before 
you,  and  the  land  is  defiled;  therefore  do  I  visit  the  ini- 
quity thereof  upon  it,  and  the  land  itself  vomiteth  but 

her  inhabitants." The  same  sentiments  are  repeated 

(vs.  26-30).     Unnatural  lusts  had  sunk  both  men  and 
women  not  onlv  down  to  a  level  with  beasts,  but  even 


THE    WAR-LAW   AGAINST    CANAANITES.  265 

below  them.  Idolatry  had  so  far  quenched  the  sweet 
humanities  from  the  parental  heart  that  fathers  and 
mothers  could  burn  their  own  sons  and  daughters  to 
Moloch.  These  horrible,  unnatural  crimes  were  not 
only  an  outrage  against  the  heart  of  God  the  Great 
Father;  but,  as  he  forcibly  puts  it,  they  defiled  the  very 
land  itself.  The  earth  was  nauseated  with  these  abom- 
inations and  spued  out  such  inhabitants.  God's  fair 
and  much  abused  world  could  bear  them  no  longer. 
Nature  herself  lifted  her  voice  of  protest  against  such 
wickedness;  or,  as  the  strong  figure  suggests,  her 
stomach  sickened  even  to  nausea  over  such  unnatural 
lusts  and  such  a  torturing  death  of  innocent  sons  and 
daughters.  What  could  a  holy  and  righteous  God  do 
with  such  a  people  but  wipe  them  out  of  existence 
and  wash  the  land  they  had  defiled  clean  of  such  j^ol- 

lutions? Lev.  20  reiterates  substantially  the  same 

list  of  abominations  against  which  God  warns  his  peo- 
jjlc ; — "  Ye  shall  therefore  keep  all  my  statutes  and  all 
my  judgments  and  do  them,  that  the  land  whither  I 
bring  you  to  dwell  therein,  sjyue  you  not  out.  And  ye 
shall  not  walk  in  the  manner  of  the  nations  which  I 
cast   out   before    you ;    for  they   committed    all    these 

things,  and  therefore  I  abhorred  them  (vs.  22,  23). 

Perfectly  definite  and  explicit  .is  the  repetition  of  the 
same  point  in  Deut.  12 :  30,  31.  When  the  Lord  shall 
have  cut  off  the  Canaanites  before  thee,  be  not  snared 
into  their  ways;  inquire  not  after  their  gods  and  ways 
of  worship  : — "  Thou  shalt  not  do  so  unto  the  Lord  thy 
God,  for  every  abomination  to  the  Lord  \Yhich  he  hateth 
have  thej'  done  unto  their  gods;  for  even  their  sons 
and  their  daughters  have  they  burnt  in  the  fire  to  their 
gods."  No  fact  could  be  more  telling ;  none  more  damn- 
ing.  A  people  so  given  up  to  devil-worship  as  to  burn 
their  own  offspring  at  his  supposed  behest,  must  be  too 
deljased  and  corrupt  to  live!  The  earth  itself  cries  out 
against  them,  demanding  their  utter  extirpation! 

A  more  full  description  of  the  varieties  and  forms  of 
the  devil-worship  and  fellowship  common  among  the 
Canaanites  may  be  seen  in  Deut.  18 :  9-14,  to  which  it 
must  suffice  to  refer  the  reader. 

I  am  well  aware  that  some  Jewish  doctors,  wishing 
to  vindicate  their  fathers  from  crimes  so  unnatural  have 
souglit  to  prove  that  "causing  children  to  pass  through 


266  THK   THEOCRACY. 

the  fire  "  was  a  rite  of  purification  and  not  actual  mur- 
der.    The  attempt  is  futile  : (1.)  Because  some  of 

the  expressions  are  perfectly  unequivocal ;  e.  g. — "  Even 
their  sons  have  they  burnt  in  the  fire  to  their  Gods  " 
(Deut.  12 :  31).     See  also  the  cases  in  2  Kings  17 :  31, 

and  2  Chron.   28 :    3,   and  Jer.  7 :    31,  and  19 :    5. 

(2.)  The  phrase— "To  make  to  pass  through  the  fire 
unto  their  gods"  is  used  in  the  same  sense  as  the  phrase — 

"  to  burn  in  the  fire." (3.)  That  the  Phenicians  and 

Carthagenians,  closely  related  to  the  ancient  Canaanites, 
did  ofier  human  sacrifices  is  a  well  established  fact  of 
history.     (See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary ;    "  Moloch.") 

We  have  seen  that  the  title  of  Israel  to  Canaan  falls 
back  upon  God's  prior  title — upon  his  right  to  deed  it 
to  whom  he  would.  On  the  same  principle  the  question 
whether  it  was  right  and  just  for  them  to  extirpate  the 
Canaanites  falls  back  ujDon  two  prior  questions — 
(a.)  Was  it  right  and  just  for  God  to  extirpate  them  ? 

(b.)  Was  it  wise  for  Him  to  command  the  Israelites 

to  do  this  work  of  extirpation,  rather  than  do  it  himself 
by  miracle,  and  without  human  hands  ?  Here  are  our 
two  great  questions. 

(a.)  As  to  the  first — the  right  of  God  to  destroy  them 
for  their  crimes  and  the  justice  of  doing  it — I  see  not  how 
it  can  be  denied  or  questioned  without  denying  to  God 
the  right  to  punish  sin  at  all.  Has  God  any  right  to 
govern  his  own  universe — any  right  to  resist  the  influ- 
ence of  sin  and  rebellion  in  his  kingdom — any  right  to 
protect  innocent  children  from  being  burned  to  death 
in  homage  to  the  devil  ?  Alas  for  the  universe  if  this  doc- 
trine can  be  maintained  ! Truly  we  may  say — If  God 

has  no  right  to  exterminate  from  the  earth  any  one  in- 
dividual sinner,  or  a  nation  of  many  thousands  who  are 
too  corrupt  to  live,  then  he  lacks  the  essential  rights  of 
a  God  !  If  he  has  not  the  power  to  do  it,  he  lacks  the 
power  necessary  to  a  God.  If  he  has  not  the  firmness — 
the  nerve  (shall  we  say?) — the  sense  of  justice  and  right 
that  would  forbid  his  evading  the  dut}^,  then  he  lacks 
the  essential  attributes  of  a  God.  If  he  has  so  little  love 
for  his  offspring  that  he  can  see  their  welfare  sacrificed 
in  the  worship  of  the  devil  and  in  the  sweep  of  un- 
utterable social  pollutions,  then  he  is  incompetent  to 
govern  a  world  of  sinners  ! 


THE   WAR-LAW   AGAINST    CANAANITES.  267 

(b.)  But  the  objector  will  make  his  chief  stand  upon 
the  secondary  question — Was  it  wise  for  God  to  emj)loy 
Israel  to  extirj^ate  the  corrupt  Canaanites  ? 

The  objector  Avill  perhaps  say — He  might  have  sunk 
all  Canaan  under  a  second  flood  like  that  of  Noah's  time, 
and  no  complaint  could  stand  against  him.  He  might 
have  engulfed  those  cities  in  fire  as  he  did  guilty  Sodom, 
and  all  the  living,  cognizant  of  the  moral  grounds  of 
the  act,  would  have  said.  Amen !  But  that  he  should 
set  such  an  example  of  war — the  most  horrid  of  all 
wars — before  the  nations  of  all  history — before  the  ages 
of  all  time,  giving  it  his  holy  sanction — nay  more,  set- 
ting his  own  most  holy  people  to  the  bloody  work — this 
is  unpardonable.  That  he  should  put  them  to  such 
barbarities — subject  them  to  such  demoralization  of  all 
tlie  finer  sensibilities  of  the  human  soul,  seems  too  hor- 
rid to  be  thought  of! 

It  is  perhaps  well  to  meet  this  question  in  its  strong- 
est form,  with  its  objectionable  points  in  their  most 
revolting  aspect. 

I  do  not  feel  called  u]ion  to  say  one  word  to  soften 
down  any  man's  sense  of  the  horrors  of  war.  War  is 
horrid — but  sin  is  more  horrid — certainly  such  sin  as 
that  of  the  old  Canaanites.  In  fact  war  is  horrid — not 
mainly  because  of  the  suffering  but  because  of  the  sin 
that  may  be  in  it.  And  this  suggests  the  true  and  just 
reply  to  be  made  to  the  objection  now  before  us,  viz. 
that  such  a  war  as  that  of  Israel  against  the  Canaanites, 
waged  in  obedience  to  God ;  waged  for  the  destruction 
of  such  sinners  and  to  cleanse  tlie  earth  from  such  un- 
utterable a])ominations  and  pollutions,  is  not  demoral- 
izing— is  not  so  either  necessarily  or  even  naturally ; 
but  if  done  in  honest  obedience  to  God  and  with  a  due 
sense  of  the  grounds  on  which  God  commanded  it,  must 
have  been  the  very  opposite  of  demoralizing ;  must  have 
educated  the  nation  of  Israel  to  a  juster  sense  of  the 
abominations  of  idolatry  and  of  the  righteous  moral 
government  of  God  over  the  wicked  in  the  present  world. 
It  can  not  be  doubted  that  these  were  the  ends  Avhich 
God  sought  to  secure  in  putting  this  service  upon  Israel. 
A  lower  object  to  be  reached  was  to  vacate  the  land  of 
Canaan  for  Israel  to  occui-)y;  but  the  far  higher  object 
was  to  wash  the  land  of  its  moral  pollutions ;  to  break 
down  and  blot  out  nations  too  corrupt  to  live..     The  Lord 


268  THE   THEOCRACY. 

devolved  this  extirpation  upon  Israel  that  they  might 
thereby  get  a  deeper  sense  of  his  abhorrence  of  such 
sin — not  to  say  also,  a  juster  view  of  the  intrinsic  abom- 
inations which  God  commissioned  them  to  punish. 

Or  we  may  put  the  argument  thus  :  Given — the  great 
historic  fact,  the  moral  corruption  of  the  nations  of 
Canaan  and  the  moral  purpose  of  God  to  exterminate 
those  nations  for  their  corruption.  The  choice  of  meth- 
ods lies  between  miracles  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  war- 
force  of  Israel,  backed  up  by  God's  providential  agencies, 
on  the  other :— miracles  as  in  the  flood  and  on  Sodom  : 
or  the  war-commission  given  to  his  people  Israel. 

Now  consider. 1.  Miracles  had  already  been  em- 
ployed repeatedly  before  the  eyes  of  mankind,  and  the 
Lord  might  for  this  reason  wisely  vary  his  methods,  for 
the  greater  and  better  effect. 

2.  As  already  argued,  the  moral  effect  upon  Israel  of 
being  made  the  executioners  of  God's  righteous  justice 
may  be  presumed  to  have  been  naturally  wholesome. 
But  not  to  push  this  argument — we  may  at  least  main- 
tain, 

3.  That  seen  historically — estimated  in  the  light  of 
the  facts  of  the  case,  this  method  was  morally  impressive, 
instructive,  elevating,  wholesome.  Recur  to  the  first  war — 
that  against  Amalek ;  and  to  the  scope  it  gave  for  illus- 
trations of  prayer,  and  to  the  sense  it  inspired  of  their 
relations  to  their  covenant  God.  Turn  to  the  record  of 
the  war  against  Moab  and  Midian  (Num.  25  and  31). 
Mark  its  powerful  protest  against  the  lewdness  involved 
in  those  forms  of  idol-worship,  and  note  how  Phin- 
eas  arose  to  the  sublime  grandeur  of  the  emergency  and 
made  a  record  for  himself  and  for  his  whole  tribe  indeed 
in  the  history  of  the  nation  (Num.  25  :  11-13  and  Mai. 
2  :  4-7).  Study  the  wars  of  Joshua  and  the  moral  hero- 
ism developed  there,  and  ask  if  any  generation  of  Israel 
appear  on  the  page  of  her  national  history,  exhibiting 
a  truer  consecration  to  God  or  a  more  conscientious  de- 
votion to  his  will.  And  what  shall  Ave  say  of  Deborah 
anl  Barak,  and  of  the  heroism  tliat  shines  and  gleams 
in  the  record  of  their  achievements,  or  of  the  piety  that 
flavors  their  triumphal  song  ?  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  wars  under  David,.Jelu)!<haphat,  and  Hezekiah,  and 
of  the  songs  of  praise  and  of  proud  triumph  in  Israel's 
God  which  gave  expression  to  tlie  moral  results  of  those 


THE  WAR-LAW   AGAINST    CANAAXITES.  2G9 

wars  and  victories.  That  nian  reads  the  history  of  the 
heroic  age  of  Israel  very  imperfectly  who  does  not  see 
ill  it  ample  demonstration  that  staunch  obedience  to 
God  in  this  matter  of  Avar  against  the  idolatrous,  cor- 
rupt Canaanites,  fostered  piety,  developed  Christian 
heroism  and  toned  up  the  standard  of  morality.  When 
they  compromised,  accepted  tribute,  and  tried  their  own 
polic}'  of  living  side  by  side  with  such  idolaters  instead 
of  God's  policy  of  vigorous  extermination,  then  came 
disaster,  religious  decline,  and  most  perilous  moral  cor- 
ruption. 

4.  The  great  conflict  of  those  early  ages  between  God 
and  Satan  was  fought  on  the  point  of  idolatry — the  real 
question  being  whether  God  or  the  devil  should  have 
the  worship  of  men ;  whether  the  supremacy  and  the 
moral  right  to  rule  the  world  are  with  God  or  Avith 
Satan.  This  being  the  great  conflict  of  the  ages,  it 
should  not  surprise  us  that  God  should  let  Israel's  land 
of  promise  be  in  a  sort  the  battle-ground,  and  should 
bring  into  play  the  physical  force  of  arms  and  let  his 
covenant  people  come  into  the  fight  hand  to  hand 
against  the  hosts  of  his  foes.  This  arrangement  gave 
scope  for  his  own  hand  in  various  providential  agencies — 
thunder,  hail-storm,  the  day  prolonged  miraculously ; 
panics  often  smiting  the  hearts  of  his  enemies,  and 
victories  that  witnessed  visibly  to  Jehovah's  present 
hand.  In  an  age  Avhen  men  were  waiting  for  God  to 
manifest  himself  visibly  and  tangibly  ;  when  their  spir- 
itual perceptions  were  but  dim,  and  Avhen  of  necessity 
the  first  step  in  the  process  of  revealing  God  to  men 
demanded  an  appeal  to  the  senses,  it  Avas  certainly  no, 
mistake  in  Avisdom  for  God  to  sufier  this  great  fight  to 
take  on  visible  form  and  stand  out  palpably  before  hu- 
man eyes.  In  the  result  God  made  it  unmistakably 
manifest  that  his  soul  abhorred  such  unnatural  and 
liorrid  crimes  as  those  of  the  men  of  Canaan,  and  also 
that  he  had  both  the  poAver  and  tlie  Avill  to  inflict  on 
them  the  extremest  and  most  fearful  judgments. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


THE  CIVIL  INSTLTUTES  OF  MOSES;    OR  THE  HEBREW 
CODE  OF  CIVIL  LAW. 

In  scripture  phrase,  the  code  is  most  often  called 
"The  statutes  and  the  judgments" — the  "command- 
ments and  precepts"  which  the  Lord  gave  by  Moses 
(Deut.  6 :  1  and  Ex.  21 :  1). 

I  approach  this  subject  Avith  a  feeling  of  regret  that 
the  necessary  limits  of  this  volume  forbid  any  attempt 
to  make  my  presentation  of  this  topic  exhaustive. 
The  vitmost  I  can  do  Avithin  the  limits  prescribed  is  to 
give  an  outline  rather  than  a  full  development  of  this 
code.  I  shall  aim  to  make  this  outline  full  enough  to 
show  the  stc2%s  and  stages  of  progress  in  the  science  of 
legislation  which  are  obvious  in  these  "statutes  and 
judgments.". 

I  must  first  call  attention  to  certain  points  of  a  gen- 
eral nature,  most  of  which  will  need  only  a  brief  state- 
ment. 

1.  This  code  of  laws  was  given  to  the  Hebrews  by  God 
himself  through  the  hand  of  Moses.  For  the  sake  of  brev- 
ity and  to  distinguish  it  from  other  codes  we  may  speak 
of  it  as  the  code  of  Moses  and  may  speak  of  Moses  as  the 
Hebrew  lawgiver ;  yet  let  it  be  said  once  for  all  that  we 
•recognize  no  authority — no  authorship  other  than  that 
of  God  himself. 

2.  This  code  was  built  upon  the  moral  law  of  Sinai — 
the  ten  commandments.  It  simjDly  expands  and  ap- 
plies the  general  principles  expressed  or  implied  in 
that  summary. 

3.  It  was  framed  with  the  purpose  of  reaching  the 
highest  moral  standard  practicable  in  the  circumstances 
of  the  people — the  highest  which  it  was  possible  to  en- 
force. This  doctrine  assumes  that  any  special  statute 
wiiich  is  so  far  above  the  moral  status  of  the  people  as 
to  be  practically  inoperative  and  void  may  be  for  this 
very  reason  an  evil  ratlier  than  a  good  inasmuch  «as  it 
may  break  down  rather  than  build  up  the  law-abiding 

(270j 


THE    HEBREW    CIVIL    CODE.  271 

Bpirit  of  the  people.  Consequently  the  best  statute  for 
any  given  people  may  be  the  best  that  can  be  in  the 
main  enforced — the  best  M'hich  they  can  be  brought  up 
to  respect  and  obey.  Hence  it  may  happen  that  some 
of  the  statutes  in  the  best  practicable  system  will  be 
only  second  best — i.  e.  not  theoretically  perfect,  but 
only  the  best  practically  for  the  circumstances.  We 
may  illustrate  this  by  the  law  of  divorce,  as  to  Avhich 
Jesus  himself  remarks  that  Moses  "  because  of  the  hard- 
ness of  your  hearts  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives, 
but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so"  (Mat.  19:  8). 
The  provisions  for  an  easy  divorce  were  a  concession  to 
a  sadly  low  morality  among  the  people — the  best  under 
the  circumstances — the  best  that  could  be  made  oper- 
ative with  that  people,  but  by  no  means  theoretically 

perfect. The  reader  will  take  note  that  we  had  no 

occasion  to  apply  this  principle  to  the  moral  law  of  the 
ten  commandments,  nor  indeed  to  the  underlying  prin- 
ciples of  this  code  of  "statutes  and  judgments,"  but 
only  to  some  of  its  practical  applications  of  these  prin- 
ciples. 

4.  It  is  an  inference  from  our  last-named  point  that 
this  code  must  needs  taJce  the  people  as  they  vxre;  must 
have  regard  to  existing  usages,  to  the  common  law  un- 
der which  they  had  been  living,  and  perhaps  must  be 
compelled  to  tolerate  some  undesirable  usages  until 
better  principles  could  be  inculcated  and  a  higher 
moral  tone  of  public  sentiment  could  be  established. 
Illustrations  of  this  principle  appear  in  the  prevalent 
system  of  servitude,  and  in  polygamy. 

5.  Another  inference  from  the  point  above  made  is 
that  this  code  can  not  be  held  responsible  for  what  was 
in  existence  before  its  promulgation ;  e.  g.  personal 
slavery.  It  can  be  held  responsible  only  for  doing  the 
best  that  could  be  done  with  such  a  people — a  people  so 
educated,  accustomed  to  such  usages  and  trained  in  such 
ideas. 

6.  That  this  code,  though  given  by  the  Lord  himself, 
was  not  theoretically  perfect  but  only  the  best  practica- 
ble, is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  it  Avas  from  time  to 
time  modified.  Cases  of  this  appear  in  the  law  respect- 
ing the  six  years'  emancipation  of  Hebrew  servants 
(compare  Ex.  21:  2-7  with  Deut.  15:  12-17);  the 
taking  of  nledges  from  the   poor   for  the   payment  of 


272  THE    HEBREW   CIVIL    CODE. 

debts :  (compare  Ex.  22 :  26  Avith  Deut.  24 :  G,  10-15). 
See  also  the  law  of  inheritance  in  a  family  consisting 
of  daughters  only  (Num.  36). 

7.  That  this  code  was  framed  with  the  design  of  a 
special  adaptation  to  the  Hebrew  people  appears  in 
such  facts  as  these,  viz.  that  though  it  went  into  imme- 
diate effect  and  continued  in  force  during  their  wander- 
ing life  in  the  wilderness  forty  years,  yet  it  anticipated 
their  ultimate  residence  in  Canaan,  especially  in  its 
land-law  and  its  provision  for  the  entailment  of  real 
estate.  Also  it  anticipated  the  future  demand  for  a 
king  according  to  the  usage  of  contiguous  nations  and 
provided  for  this  modification  in  the  general  gov- 
ernment. 

8.  At  the  point  where  the  administration  of  justice 
first  appears,  the  sole  responsibility  seems  to  have 
rested  on  Moses  (Ex.  18).  At  the  suggestion  of  Jethro 
(as  we  have  seen)  important  modifications  were  intro- 
duced. Further  modifications  were  made  after  the  set- 
tlement in  Canaan.  In  consequence  of  the  close  con- 
nection between  the  church  and  the  state — the  religious 
law  and  the  civil — the  same  class  of  men  were  to  a 
great  extent  put  in  charge  of  both.  The  tribe  of  Levi 
became  the  ministers  of  religion  and  the  administrators 
of  civil  law  as  well.  Exempted  chiefly  from  agricul- 
ture and  from  military  service,  they  became  the  learned 
class — the  lawyers  of  the  nation.  "  The  priests'  lips 
should  J^eep  knowledge  and  they  should  seek  the  law 
at  his  mouth"  (Malachi  2:  7). 

9.  The  question  how  far  this  divinely  revealed  code 
of  law  is  authoritative  upon  human  legislators  and 
should  control  legislation  in  this  Christian  age,  should 
be  carefully  considered.  With  no  attempt  to  exhaust 
this  question,  I  may  suggest  briefly:  — (1.)  That  the 
great  principles  of  this  code  should  underlie  every  code 
of  human  law.  These  principles  must  be  good  for  all 
time — for  man  in  his  social  and  civil  relations  every- 
where. For  example,  its  doctrine  of  equity ;  its  law  of 
love;  its  regai-d  for  the  i^ersonal  rights  of  life,  chastity, 
property ;  its  doctrine  of  the  essential  equality  of  every 
man's  rights  before  the  law;  and  its  assumption  that 
the  poor,  being  otherwise  defenseless,  have  special  need 
of  the  protection  of  law,  and  should  be  regarded  there- 
fore as  the  special  wards  of  government  and   its  of- 


THE    HEBREW    CIVIL    CODE.  273 

fiocrs. (2.)  As  the  moral  law  of  the  ten  command- 
ments is  obviously  the  compend  and  summary  of  the 
great  principles  which  underlie  this  Hebrew  code,  so 
should  this  moral  law  be  the  compend  and  summary 
of  the  principles  that  should  underlie  every  human 
code  of  law  in  whatever  age  of  the  world  and  in  what- 
ever stages  of  civilization. (3.)  As  the  Hebrew  code 

while  accepting  the  supreme  authority  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments and  aiming  to  embody  and  apply  its  prin- 
cijjles  did  yet  allow  to  itself  a  certain  latitude  in  ad- 
justing its  "  precepts  and  statutes  "  to  the  condition  of 
the  people,  so  may  human  legislators.  Lessons  of  wis- 
dom may  be  drawn  from  this  code  in  both  these  lines 
of  its  example;  viz.  its  fidelity  to  the  principles  and 
doctrines  of  the  perfect  moral  law  of  Sinai ;  and  its  care- 
ful adaptation  of  these  principles  to  the  actual  status 
of  the  people  so  as  to  reach  the  highest  possible  amount 
of  practical  efficiency  in  securing  the  ends  of  justice 
and  of  virtue. 

The  brief  analysis  and  treatment  of  the  civil  code  here 
attempted  will  follow  mainly  the  same  order  of  subjects 
which  appears  in  the  law  of  Sinai ;  thus  : 

I.  Crimes  against  God : 

1.  Idolatry; — 2.  Perjury;— 3.  Presumptuous  sins ; — 4. 
Violations  of  the  Sabbath ; — 5.  Blasphemy ; — 6.  Magic. 

II.  Crimes  against  parents  and  rulers  (Fifth  command- 
ment). 

III.  Crimes  against   the   person  and  life  (Sixth  com- 
mandment). 

ly.  Crimes  against  chastity  (Seventh  commandment). 

V.  Crimes  against  property;  laws  respecting  property 
(Eighth  commandment). 

VI.  Crimes   against    reputation ;    violations    of    truth 
(Ninth  commandment). 

VII.  Hebrew  servitude. 

VIII.  Judicial  procedure. 

IX.  Punishments. 

I.  Crimes  against  God  : 

1.  Idolatry.  The  laws  against  idolatry  included  both 
the  professed  worship  of  the  true  God  by  means  of  images, 
and  the  worship  of  other  gods.     As  the  law  of  Sinai  for- 


274  CRIMES   AGAINST   GOD. 

bade  both  these  practices  with  no  special  discrimination 
between  them,  so  did  the  "statutes  and  judgments" — the 
Law  apparently  holding  it  of  small  account  to  attempt  any 
discrimination.  In  the  case  of  the  golden  calf  (Ex.  32) 
Aaron  having  more  knowledge  of  the  true  God  than  the 
body  of  the  people,  may  have  thought  only  of  worship- 
ing the  Lord  ("  To-morrow  is  a  feast  to  the  Lord")  ;  but 
tlie  people  bringing  their  notions  from  their  Egyptian 
life,  may  have  had  no  thought  beyond  the  calf,  and  so 
may  have  worshiped  it  as  their  God.  Plainly  the  pro- 
fessed worship  of  God  by  means  of  images  was  a  per- 
jDetual  temptation  to  let  slip  all  just  conceptions  of  God 
and  to  Avorship  images  only,  or  some  other  object  than 
God.  No  discrimination  in  point  of  penalty  appears 
in  the  law.  Both  forms  seem  to  have  been  condemned 
and  punished  with  no  attempt  to  discriminate  between 
them.  Individual  idolaters,  after  careful  examination 
and  clear  proof  of  guilt,  were  stoned — the  witnesses 
casting  the  first  'stone  (Deut.  17 :  2-7).  No  man  might 
allow  himself  to  be  seduced  into  the  worship  of  other 
gods — no,  not  by  a  brother,  or  a  son,  or  a  wife,  or  by 
friend  dear  as  his  own  soul,  but  must  expose  the  sin 
of  his  seducer  and  spare  not  his  very  life  (Deut.  13: 
6-11).  A  city  given  to  idolatry,  if  the  case  be  proven, 
must  be  utterly  destroyed  and  made  a  perpetual  desola- 
tion (Deut.  13:  12-16).  The  statutes  were  absolutely 
sweeping  against  any  possible  form  of  similitude,  image, 
or  representation,  made  for  an  object  of  worship;  and 
also  against  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies — a  form 
of  idolatry  both  ancient  and  widely  clifiused  (Deut.  4 : 

13-19). To  guard  them  against  temptation  in  the 

social  line,  they  were  forbidden  to  eat  in  idolatrous  fes- 
tivals (Ex.  34 :  15).  Apparently  many  special  usages 
were  forbidden  because  of  their  associations  with  idol 
worship  (Lev.  19:  27,  28).  The  prohibition  to  eat 
blood  or  fat  may  have  been  in  part  sanitary,  but  prob- 
ably was  also  anti-idolatrous.  The  distinction  between 
things  clean  and  unclean  helped  to  make  them  a  pe- 
culiar j)eople,  and  may  have  been  so  intended. 

2.  Perjury.  The  law  of  Sinai  tacitly  indicates  that 
the  Lord  himself  would  take  the  perjurer  in  hand, 
would  never  hold  him  guiltless,  and  would  be  responsi- 
ble  for   his   punishment.     The  statutes  touch  only  a 


PERJURY.  275 

single  case — "  A  false  witness  rising  np  against  any 
man  to  testify  against  him  that  which  is  wrong" — 
ordaining  that  the  case  be  brought  before  the  judges 
who  are  to  make  diligent  inquisition.  If  found  guilty, 
the  evil  he  thought   to  bring  upon   another  must  be 

visited  upon  himself  (Deut.  19 :  16-21). In  general 

the  sanctity  of  the  sacred  oath  was  shielded  by  Jehovah 
himself,  searching  out  and  punishing  the  guilty. 
Oaths  seem  to  have  been  far  less  frequent  than  in  tlie 
modern  administration  of  law — less  frequent,  but  more 
sacred,  this  binding  force  being  laid  on  every  con- 
science and  left  to  the  awful  sanctions  of  Jehovah. 

3.  Presumptuous  sins.  The  law  against  such  sins 
sought  to  impress  due  reverence  for  God's  authority.  A 
broad  distinction  was  made  between  sins  of  ignorance 
and  sins  where  knowledge  of  duty  was  presupposed 
and  the  offense  involved  deliberate  contempt  of  God. 
The  external  act  was  of  smallest  consequence.  The 
law  said,  "The  soul  that  doeth  might  presumptuously" — • 
no  matter  what  it  be.  Certain  cases  are  specified  "hav- 
ing these  common  elements — that  the  law  was  plain ; 
the  duty  palpable;  and  innocent  ignorance  not  even 
supposable; — e.  g.  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  against  all 
[needless]  work  cEx.  31 :  14,  15  and  35  :  2,  3).  The 
case  (Num.  15 :  32-36)  of  the  man  Avho  gathered  sticks 
on  the  Sabbath,  stands  in  the  closest  connection  with 
the  law  against  "presumptuous  sins,"  showing  that 
the  offense  was  seen  in  that  light.  The  most  emphatic 
condemnation  of  presumptuous  sins  immediately  pre- 
cedes (vs.  30,  31)  in  these  words :  "  The  soul  that  doeth 
aught  presumptuously,  the  same  reproacheth  the  Lord  ; 
and  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  among  his  people" 
(i.  e.  by  capital  punishment).  "  Because  he  hath  de- 
spised the  word  of  the  Lord  and  hath  broken  his  com- 
mandment, that  soul  shall  be  utterly  cut  off;  his 
iniquity  shall  be  upon  him."  He  must  bear  it  him- 
self, with   no  atonement  provided  for  his   pardon. 

Other  cases  specified  are — the  eating  of  unleavened 
tread  during  the  Passover  (Ex  12 :  15) ;  neglect  of  the 
Passover  when  its  observance  was  practicable  (Num. 
9:  13);  eating  certain  sacrificial  offerings  while  un- 
clean (Lev.  7:  20,  21);  eating  fat  or  blood  (Lev.  7 :  23-27). 

The  reason  for  laws  of  this  sort,  apparently  so  strin- 


276  BLASPHEMY. 

gent  and  severe,  lies  in  the  facts — that  God  was  their 
king ;  that  he  looked  on  the  heart ;  and  that  whatever 
acts  manifested  contempt  of  his  authority  and  treason 
against  his  throne  Avere  in  their  very  nature  the  high- 
est possible  crimes. 

4.  Laivs  against  violations  of  the  Sabbath  have  been  in- 
dicated sufficiently  under  the  previous  head.  The 
statute  was  so  entirely  definite;  the  line  of  duty  so 
easily  defined  and  understood,  it  seemed  to  be  assumed 
that  palpable  violations  of  the  Sabbath  were  presump- 
tuous sins,  and  they  are  treated  accordingly.  The  case 
of  the  man  who  gathered  sticks  was  carried  up  to  the 
Supreme  King,  apparently  because  though  the  law  was 
clear,  the  external  act  was  in  itself  trivial.  God's  an- 
swer amounted  to  this  ;  No  offense  can  he  trivial  if  the 
spirit  of  it  contemns  God's  authority  and  reproaches  his 
name. 

5.  Blasphemy.  A  case  of  blasphemy  is  specially  de- 
scribed (Lev.  24:  10-16,  23).  It  was  referred  to  God, 
the  Supreme  Ruler.  "  They  put  him  in  ward  that  the 
mind  of  the  Lord  might  be  shoAved  them."  The  Lord 
replied  through  Moses:  "Bring  forth  him  that  hath 
cursed  without  the  camp ;  and  let  all  that  heard  him 
lay  their  hand  upon  his  head,  and  let  all  the  congrega- 
tion stone  him."  The  law  was  enacted  accordingly : 
"He  that  blasphemeth  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death,  and  all  the  congregation  shall 
certainly  stone  him."  The  majesty  of  the  Great  King— 
the  infinitely  holy  God,  must  be  held  sacred.  No  pun- 
ishment could  be  too  severe  for  a  crime  which  struck 
so  fatally  against  the  reverence  and  homage  due  to  -Je- 
hovah. 

6.  Magic  Arts.  In  examining  the  statutes  on  this 
point,  we  are  struck  with  the  number  and  variety  of 
names  which  designate  these  arts.  The  standard  enu- 
meration (Deut.  *18:  10,  11)  gives  at  least  eight;  viz. 

(1.)  "He  that  useth  divination" — professing  to  gain 
]i;nowledge  and  power  more  than  human  and  in  some 
sense  divine  : (2.)  "An  observer  of  times  " — the  He- 
brew word  being  related  to  cloud,  perhaps  in  the  sense 
of  covering,  hiding,  as  the  cloud   shuts  off  the  sun's 


MAGIC    ARTS.  277 

light ;  practicing  covert  arts : (3.)  "An  enchanter  " — 

the  original  suggesting  the  serpent,  and  implying 
either  a  hissing,  in  imitation  of  the  serpent ;  or  the 
practice  of  charming  serpents,  yet  alwaj^s  connected 

with  the  arts  of  divination  : (4.)  ''A  witch  " — the 

Hebrew  word  signifying  one  who  mutters  incantations, 
its  cognate  Avords  having  the  sense  of  pra3'ing,  but  in 
Hebrew  only  in  the  bad  sense  of  seeking  help  from 

others    than    God: (5.)    "The    charmer" — a    word 

which  suggests  binding  as  Avith  the  spell  of  enchant- 
ment— "spell-bound";  often  used  of  the  charming  of 

serpents: (6.)  "A  consulter  with  familiar  spirits"; 

(Heb.)  one  who  prays  to  the  bottle-man — the  Hebrew 
word  for  bottle  being  applied  to  the  ventriloquist  from 
whose  body  came  forth  unearthly  sounds  as  from  a  sec- 
ond being  imprisoned  within  him.  Ventriloquism 
was  one  of  the  arts  practiced  by  the  ancient  magicians 
to  excite  the  wonder  and  to  command  the  belief  of  the 

credulous. The  English  phrase — "familiar  spirit" — 

signifies  spirits  Avho  stand  in  such  a  relation  to  the 
performer  that  they  come  at  his  call,  like  servants  of  his 
family,  he  having  the  power  to  evoke  them  at  his  Avill. 
Of  course  it  is  pretended  that  these  spirits  are  other 
than  human  and  greater  than  human  spirits  can  be 
Avhile  yet  in  the  body.  The  original  Hebrew  [Ob] 
comes  down  to  us  in  the  African  "  Obe-man  "  who  still 

follows  the  same  profession,  by  means  of  similar  arts. 

(7.)  "The  wizard"  is  one  Avho  claims  superhuman  Avis- 
dom — the  old  English  accurately  translating  the  He- 
brcAv :  the  distinctively  ^vise  one.  Of  course  the  Avord  is 
restricted  in  usage  to  this  sort  of  superior  A\dsdom — that 

which  is  gained  by  the  arts  of  magic. (8.)  "  The 

necromancer  " — precisely  the  spiritist  of  modern  times — 
or  rather,  of  all  time — Avho  claims  to  have  communion 
Avith  the  spirits  of  dead  men.* 

I  have  led  the  reader  through  this  analysis  of  the 
original  words,  to  aid  him  toward  some  just  conception 
of  the  associated  ideas  Avhich  cluster  round  the  magic 
arts  of  the  HebrcAV  age.  Their  name  and  their  arts  are 
legion.  Think  of  so  many  classes — professions — of  men 
and  Avomen  naturally  shrewd,  sharp,  cunning;  prac- 

*Tlie  word  necromancer  comes  from  tlie  Greek;  necros — a  dead 
one;  and  "mantis"  divination — gaining  superliuman  knowledge 
from  tlie  dead. 


278  MAGIC    ARTS. 

ticing  upon  the  superstitions,  the  fears,  the  gullibility 
of  the  millions;  gaining  an  almost  unlimited  control 
over  them;  working  upon  their  imagination,  haunting 
them  "with  the  dread  of  unknown  powers,  bringing  up 
to  them  ghosts  from  the  invisible  world,  claiming  to 
give  auguries  of  the  future,  playing  in  every  way  that 
may  be  for  their  own  selfish  interests  upon  their  fears 
and  their  hopes  to  extort  their  money  or  to  make  sport 
of  their  fears,  or  to  gratify  their  own  or  others'  malice. 
Or  go  still  deeper  and  see  all  this  machinery  subsidized 
by  the  devil  to  impress  men  with  his  supremacy,  to  ex- 
tort their  homage,  or  at  least  their  fear  of  himself;  and 
perhaps,  most  of  all,  to  turn  them  utterly  away  from 
the  true  Clod  and  to  displace  him  from  his  proper 
sphere  as  the  supreme  hope  and  joy  and  trust  of  mor- 
tals.  It  will  alwa3"s  be  an  unsettled  question — How 

much  help  in  the  line  of  superhuman  knowledge  and 
power  does  Satan  give  to  his  servants  who  Avork  the  in- 
fernal machinery  of  magic  arts  ?  But  on  the  point  of 
his  interest  and  s_ympathy  in  these  arts,  there  need  not 
be  the  least  question  whatever.  A  system  so  near  akin 
in  spirit  and  influence  to  idolatry — which  so  thor- 
oughly displaces  God  from  the  hopes  and  fears  of  men, 
and  which  seeks  so  successfully  to  instal  these  horrible 
superstitions  in  his  place; — a  system  which  perverts 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come  to  subserve  ungodli- 
ness and  which  practically  rules  out  the  Blessed  God 
from  the  sphere  of  men's  homage,  fears,  and  hopes; — 
this  system  has  always  been  worked  by  wicked  and 
never  by  good  men — has  always  subserved  all  iniquity, 
but  piety  and  morality  never; — this  has  been  a  master 
stroke  of  Satan's  policy  and  one  of  the  most  palpable 

fields  of  his  triumph  through  all  the  ages. Let  it  not 

surprise  us  that  God's  law  given  through  Moses  de- 
nounced it  unqualifiedly  and  made  it  punishable  witli 
death. 

The  nations  whom  God  drove  out  of  Canaan  were 
steeped  in  its  abominations  and  ripened  under  its  influ- 
ence for  their  righteous  doom. 1  am  not  aware  that 

even  one  pagan,  idolatrous  nation,  known  to  history 
since  the  world  began,  has  been  free  from  this  abomina- 
tion— the  arts  of  magic.  Egypt,  Canaan,  Babylon, 
India,  Africa,  historic  Greece  and  Rome ;  the  old  na- 
tions of  Northern  Europe,  the  savages  of  America — all 


CRIMES   AGAINST    PARENTS    AND    RULERS.  279 

come  up  to  testify  that  they  have  been  cursed  by  its 
presence  and  power.  The  latest  edition,  modified 
slifihtly  to  adjust  it  somewhat  to  an  age  of  Christian 
civilization,  is  the  "spiritism"  of  our  day — of  whicli  I 
need  at  this  point  to  say  but  two  things : — (1.)  That 
its  principles  and  policy,  its  spirit  and  its  influence, 
are  essentially  the  old  ^^  necromancy  ^^  of  the  ages  of  all 
history:  and  (2.)  That  it  naturally  becomes  the  nu- 
cleus around  which  chrystallizes  whatever  elements  in 
society  are  irreligious  and  unchristian. This  last  re- 
mark would  not  deny  that  some  are  attracted  toward  it 
temporarily  by  curiosity ;  but  it  would  maintain  that 
the  animus,  the  soul  of  the  system,  is  congenial  to 
those  who  know  not  Go,d,  and  who  choose  not  to  know 
him; — who  therefore  gladly  seek  a  substitute  for  God, 
for  his  Bible,  for  pra3'er,  and  for  trust  in  his  provi- 
dence in  these  new  revelations  from  the  future,  unseen 
world. 

Passages  in  the  Old  Testament  treating  of  this  sub- 
ject are  Ex.  22 :  18  and  Lev.  19 :  26,  31,  and  20 :  6,  27, 
and  Deut.  18:  10,  11,  14,  and  1  Sam.  28:  7-20,  and  1 
Chron.  10 :  13,  14,  and  2  Kings  21 :  6,  and  2  Chron.  33 : 
6,  and  Isa.  8:  19,  20. 

II.  Crimes  against  Parents  and  Rulers;  (Violations  of  the 
Fifth  Command). 

Of  crimes  against  parents,  the  statutes  of  Moses  spec- 
ify smiting  and  cursing  (Ex.  21 :  15,  17) ;  the  penalty 
in  both  cases,  death.  The  precept  forbidding  to  curse 
a  parent  is  repeated  impressively  (Lev.  20 :'  9) ;  "  For 
every  one  that  curseth  father  or  mother  shall  be  surely 
put  to  death :  he  hath  cursed  his  father  or  his  mother  ; 
his  blood  shall  be  upon  him."  This  crime  stands  in 
the  list  of  those  that  are  anathematized— in  Deut.  27  : 
IG:  "Cursed  be  he  that  setteth  light  by  his  father  or 

his  mother;  and  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen." In 

Mat.  15  :  3-6  and  Mk.  7 :  9-13,  our  Lord  seems  to  give 
this  law  forbidding  a  son  to  curse  father  or  mother, 
coupled  with  the  fifth  command,  a  construction  broad 
enough  to  require  him  to  give  them  an  adequate  sup- 

])()rt — of  course  in  their  years  of  infirmity  and  want. 

That  God  had  a  high  regard  for  this  filial  duty  toward 
jKuvnts  is  manifest  in  the  place  of  priorit}^  accorded  to 
13 


280  CRIMES   AGAINST    PERSON   AND   LIFE. 

the  fifth  command  and  in  the  special  promise  made  to 
those  who  fulfill  its  obligations. 

In  Deut.  21 :  18-21,  the  case  is  supposed  of  a  son  in- 
curably stubborn,  rebellious,  gluttonous,  and  drunken, 
upon  whom  parental  chastisement  is  unavailing.  The 
law  very  considerately  provides  that  his  father  and  his 
mother  shall  lay  hold  of  him  and  bring  him  before  the 
elders  of  his  city  unto  its  gates  (i.  e.  into  open  court), 
and  there,  as  a  public  example  and  warning,  the  men 
of  his  city  shall  stone  him  with  stones  that  he  die  : — 
"  So  shalt  thou  put  evil  away  from  you  and  all  Israel 

shall  hear  and  fear." ^Parental  love  and  partiality 

would  guaranty  this  law  against  abuse.  It  is  pleasant 
to  note  that  no  case  of  its  execution  is  on  record.  Per- 
haps the  severity  of  the  law  forestalled  its  violation. 

The  spirit  of  this  precept  is  so  fully  in  harmony  with 

the  book  of  Proverbs  that  we  naturally  expect  to  find 
it  there.     (See  Prov.  20:  20  and  30  :  11,  17.) 

A  precept  forbidding  insult  and  reproach  of  magis- 
trates stands  in  Ex.  22  :  28  :  ''Thou  shalt  not  revile  the 
gods  [Elohim  used  probably  in  the  sense  of  judges'],  nor 
curse  the  ruler  of  thy  people."  The  word  "  gods  "  here 
can  not  refer  to  false  gods,  idols  (as  the  English  reader 
might  suppose),  for  the  Hebrew  word  can  not  bear  that 
sense,  nor  would  it  be  pertinent.  The  parallelism  with 
"  ruler  of  th}''  peoi:)le  "  favors  the  sense  above  suggested — 
judges — acting  under  God  and  in  his  behalf  before  the 
people.  Their  sacred  office  under  God  is  assumed  to  be 
good  reason  for  treating  them  with  respect  and  against 

offering  them  insult. No  penalty  is  attached  to  the 

violation  of  this  law — perhaps  because  the  penalty  ought 
to  depend  so  much  upon  the  aggravation  of  the  offense. 

Under  the  kings,  it  was  apparently  a  caj)ital  crime, 

for  when  Shimei  cursed  king  David  (2  Sam.  19  :  21-23) 
Abishai  assumed  that  he  ought  to  die  ;  and  his  tempo- 
rary pardon  was  manifestly  due  to  David's  sad  con- 
sciousness "of  deep  personal  ill-desert  and  of  God's 
righteous  visitations  upon  him. 

III.  Crimes  against  Person  and  Life;  (Violations  of  the 
Sixth   Command). 

Under  this  head  the  salient  and  vital  points  are  : 
1.  That  the  real  murderer  must  be  put  to  death,  and  no 
"satisfaction"  be  ever  taken  in  place  of  his  life. 


CRIMES   AGAINST   PERSON   AND   LIFE.  281 

2.  That  the  law  discriminated  with  the  utmost  care 
and  wisdom  between  real  murder,  and  homicide,  more 
or  less  justifiable.  [Special  laws  touching  injuries  done 
to  servants  will  be  treated  under  the  head  of  Hebrew 
servitude.] 

3.  A  special  law  provided  cities  of  refuge. 

4.  Another  special  law  met  the  case  of  murder  by- 
unknown  hands. 

5.  Inexcusable  carelessness  causing  injury  or  death 
was  punished. 

6.  Personal  injuries  not  fatal  were  sjDecially  punished 
by  statute. 

1.  Real  murder  was  punished  capitally.  "He  that 
smitcth  a  man  so  that  he  die  shall  be  surely  put  to 
death  "  (Ex.  21 :  12  and  Lev.  24  :  17).  The  law  appears 
fully  in  Num.  35:  9-34  and  Deut.  19:  4-13,  20,  21,  in 
connection  Avith  provisions  for  the  cities  of  refuge. 
With  firm  and  solemn  tone  the  law  declared  "Ye  shall 
take  no  satisfaction  for  the  life  of  a  murderer  who  is 
guilty  of  death,  but  he  shall  be  surely  put  to  death. 
So  shall  ye  not  pollute  the  land  wherein  ye  are; 
for  blood  it  defileth  the  land,  and  the  land  can 
not  be  cleansed  of  the  blood  that  is  shed  therein 
but  by  the  blood  of  him  that  shed  it.  Defile  not 
therefore  the  land  which  ye  shall  inhabit  wherein 
I  dwell,  for  I  the  Lord  dwell  among  the  children  of 
Israel"  (Num.  35:  31-34). This  reaffirms  and  am- 
plifies the  doctrine  of  the  law  as  given  to  Noah  and  to 
the  repeoplecl  world;  "Aiid  surely  your  blood  of  your 
lives  [life-blood]  will  I  require;  at  the  hand  of  every 
l)east  will  I  require  it,  and  at  the  hand  of  every  man  ;  at 
the  hand  of  every  man's  brother  [such  a  case  as  that  of 
Cain  and  Abel]  will  I  require  the  life  of  man.  Whoso 
"  [with  no  exception]  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man 
>hall  his  blood  be  shed;  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he 
many  Human  life  is  sacred,  and  God  protects  it  under 
the  sternest  possible  penalties — nothing  less  than  the 
life  of  the  murderer.  That  God  intended  this  law  for 
the  ivhole  race,  for  the  entire  irpeopled  norld  from  and  after 
Noah,  is  too  plain  to  be  denied  or  even  doubted.  It  is 
not  easy  to  see  how  another  word  could  be  said  to  make 
tliis  more  plain.  The  law  of  Sinai  and  the  code  given 
tlirough  INIoscsare  intenseh'  emphatic,  indeed,  perfectly 
(I'cisive. 


282  CRIMES   AGAINST    PERSON   AND   LIFE. 

The  law  does  not  prescribe  the  mode  of  this  capital 
punishment.  In  various  other  crimes  punishable  with 
death,  the  mode  is  by  stoning,  done,  however,  not  by 
any  one  executioner,  but  by  many;  in  some  cases  by 
"  the  men  of  the  city."  The  penalty  for  murder  would 
often  be  executed  by  the  blood-avenger — the  nearest  re- 
lative of  the  murdered  man ;  and  it  seems  to  be  assumed 
that  he  would  use  any  deadly  weapon  he  might  choose 
(Num.  35:  19,  21,  27  and  Deut.  19:  6,  11-13). 

2.  The  law  discriminated  with  the  utmost  care  and 
wisdom  between  real  murder,  and  homicide,  more  or 
less  justifiable.  Real  murder  was  to  be  proven  as  fol- 
lows : 

(1.)  By  previous  hatred  and  enmity.  Of  course  this 
could  be  known  by  human  judges  only  by  its  manifest- 
ations. 

(2.)  By  violent  passion  in  the  act — Avhich  I  take  to 
be  the  sense  of  the  words  in  our  translation :  "  If  a 
man  come  pir sumptuously  upon  his  neighbor;  [in  Heb.] 
if  a  man  boil  up  ivith  rage  against  his  neighbor  to  slay 
him  with  guile,"  etc.  (Ex.  21 :  14). 

(3.)  By  evidence  of  j^remeditation — "lying  in  wait" 
(Ex.  21 :  13,  and  Num.  35  :  15-23,  and  Deut.  19 :  4-6). 

(4.)  By  the  sort  of  instrument  used  (Num.  35:  16-18). 
"  An  instrument  of  iron  ;"  "a  stone;"  "a  hand-weapon 
of  wood,"  i.  e.  ivood  of  the  hand,  large  enough  to  fill  the 
hand  and  deal  a  death-blow. 

On  the  other  hand  it  would  be  in  favor  of  homicide 
if  one  had  killed  his  neighbor  "  ignorantly" — "  whom 
he  had  not  hated  in  time  past;"  or  thrust  upon  him 
suddenly  without  enmity;  without  lying  in  wait;  or 
cast  uj^on  him  a  stone  seeing  him  not,  nor  seeking  his 
harm,  etc.  (Num.  35  :  22,  23  and  Deut.  19 :  4-6).  A  case 
for  example  is  given — th-e  head  of  a  man's  ax  flying  off 
when  he  is  at  work  and  killing  his  neighbor. 

3.  A  special  law  provided  for  cities  of  refuge.     (See  Ex. 

21 :  13  and  Num.  35,  and  Deut.  19  and  Josh.  20). At 

the  era  of  Moses  it  was  already  a  time-honored  usage 
that  the  nearest  blood-relative  should  avenge  the  blood 
of  his  slain  friend.  Tlie  prevalence  and  strength  of 
this  sentiment  Avere  due  of  course,  primarily,  to  the 
instincts  of  human  nature;  but  secondarily  to  the  fact 
that  as  an  institution  for  the  protection  of  person  and 
life,  the  family  was  prior  to  the  state. The  Goel  [as 


CRIMES   AGAINST    PERSON   AND    LIFE.  283 

ho  was  called  in  Hebrew] — the  blood-avenger  or  Re- 
deemer, could  not  be  expected  to  exercise  cool  and  im- 
partial discrimination  over  the  questions  l^-ing  between 
murder  in  the  first  degree  and  homicide.  To  obviate 
this  evil  the  Lord  introduced  an  important  modification 
upon  the  previously  current  usages  of  blood-revenge. 
It  was  this.  Six  cities  in  Palestine — three  on  each  side 
of  the  Jordan  were  selected  in  such  convenient  geo- 
graphical position  that  from  any  point  of  the  whole 
country  the  man-slayer  might  make  the  nearest  one 

within  less  than  one  day's  run. All  these  were  cities 

of  the  Levites;  hence  the  leading  men  of  the  city  would 
be  competent  to  hold  a  preliminary  investigation.  The 
man-slayer  fled  for  his  life  to  the  nearest  of  these  cities. 
The  legal  authorities  there  protected  him  against  the 
Goel — the  blood-avenger.  The  elders  of  his  own  city, 
if  the  case  seemed  to  demand  it,  might  send  and  fetch 
him ;  try  him,  and  deliver  him  up  to  the  blood-avenger; 
or  remand  him  back  to  his  city  of  refuge.  Thus  this 
city  shielded  him  against  sudden  and  indiscriminate 
vengeance,  and  secured  for  him  a  trial  before  the  con- 
gregation or  elders  of  his  own  city.  If  his  case  was 
proved  to  be  homicide,  he  must  remain  within  the  city 
of  refuge  till  the  death  of  the  high  priest,  after  which 
tlie  avenger's  right  to  take  his  life  (outside  the  refuge- 
cit}')  ceased  and  he  could  go  at  large  in  safety.  This 
provision  affixed  a  limit  to  his  quasi-imprisonment. 
Perhaps  it  was  also  significant  of  the  pardon  for  sin 

provided  for  in  the  death  of  our  Great  High  Priest. 

If  the  man-slayer  allowed  himself  to  be  caught  by  the 
blood-avenger  outside  his  city  when  he  should  be  within 
it;  the  avenger  might  take  his  life  with  impunity. 

The  law  was  specific  on  the  point  that  human  life 
must  not  be  taken  on  the  testimony  of  one  witness 
only — a  plurality  of  witnesses  being  required  (Num.  35 : 

30,  and  Deut.  17:  6,  and  19:  15). It  was  no  crime 

before  the  law  to  kill  a  thief  breaking  into  a  house  by 
night  (Ex.  22:  2,  3).  After  sunrise,  it  became  a  crime 
of  blood  to  take  his  life — it  being  assumed  that  he 
might  be  caught  and  compelled  to  make  restitution, 
iind  that  the  peril  to  your  own  life  and  that  of  your 
family  is  materially  lessened.  The  law  carefully 
guarded  the  defenseless  hours  of  sleep  by  night.  If  a 
thief  in  defiance  of  this  law    played   the    burglar   by 


284  CEIMES   AGAINST    PERSON   AND   LIFE. 

night,  liG  must  run  his  OAvn  risk  of  death  in  the  at- 
tempt. 

4.  A  very  remarkable  statute  met  the  special  case  of 
a  murder  done  by  unknown  hands  (Deut.  21 :  1-9). 
The  authorities  from  all  contiguous  cities  took  up  the 
case;  measured  carefully  to  fix  upon  the  city  lying 
nearest  to  the  bloody  sj^ot.  Then  the  elders  of  that  city 
were  to  take  a  heifer  never  worked  in  yoke ;  bring  her 
down  into  a  wild,  uncultivated  valley — the  home  of  all 
weird  and  thrilling  associations — and  there  strike  off 
the  heifer's  head — the  priests  coming  near  and  all  the 
ciders  of  that  city  washing  their  hands  over  the  head- 
less heifer,  solemnly  protesting — "  Our  hands  have  not 
-shed  this  blood,  neither  have  our  eyes  seen  it.  Be  mer- 
ciful, 0  Lord,  unto  thy  people  Israel,  and  lay  not  inno- 
cent blood  unto  thy  people  Israel's  charge."  "  And  the 
blood  shall  be  forgiven  them.  So  shalt  thou  put  away 
the  guilt  of  innocent  blood  from  among  you  when  thou 
shalt  do  that  which  is  right  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord." 

The  entire  scene  was  well   adapted   to  make  the 

impression  that  murder  is  no  trifle,  and  that  God  held 
the  Avhole  people  responsible  to  some  extent  for  the 
safety  of  every  human  life. 

5.  Inexcusable  carelessness,  followed  by  f^ital  results,  was 
punishable  by  law.  A  supposed  case  for  a  sj)ecimen 
appears  in  Ex.  21 :  28,  29.  The  goring  ox— wont  to 
push  with  his  horns— reported  to  his  owner  but  not 
"kept  in"  by  him — killing  man  or  woman — must  be 
put  to  death  and  his  owner  also,  for  his  culpable  negli- 
gence. 

6.  Personal  injuries,  not  fatal,   came  under  special 
statute.     In  the  case  of  a  mutual  quarrel  and  fight, ' 
j^ersonal  injuries,  less  than  fatal,  were  punished  by  re- 
quiring their  author  to  pay  for  the  wounded  man's  loss 
of  time  and  for  his  being  "  thoroughly  healed  "  [nursing 

and  medical  services]. The  master  who  smote  his 

servant  unto  immediate  death,  must  surely  be  pun- 
ished. But  if  the  servant  survived  a  day  or  two,  the 
presumption  would  be  that  the  master  did  not  intend 
to  kill.  His  loss  in  the  services  of  his  servant  was  con- 
sidered his  punishment. Other  special  cases  appear 

Ex.  21 :  22  and  Deut.  25:  11,  12  which  were  better  read 
than  rehearsed. The  principle  of  punishment  by  re- 
taliation— ["lex  talionis"] — like  for  like — was  applied 


CRIMES   AGAINST    CHASTITY.  285 

in  all  appropriate  cases  (Lev.  24 :  18-21).  "  If  a  man 
cause  a  blemish  in  his  neighbor,  as  he  hath  done,  so 
shall  it  be  done  unto  him  :  Breach  for  breach  ;  eye  for 
eye,"  etc.  (Ex.  21 :  23-25  and  Dent.  19 :  21). 

IV.  Crimes  Against  Chastity;  (Violations  of  the  Seventh 
Command). 

The  necessity  for  laws  on  this  point  at  once  discrim- 
inating, wise,  and  stringent,  will  be  sufficiently  obvi- 
ous when  we  consider  (1.)  The  strength  of  the  passion 
to  be  controlled — constitutionally  common  to  all  ages 

of  the  world : (2.)  The  sacredness  of  the  marriage 

relation  and  the  inestimable  value  of  moral  purity  in 
all  human  society — also    common   to  all   ages  of  the 

world's  history : (3.)  (Peculiar  to  the  earlier  ages) 

the  necessity  of  defining  the  limits  of  consanguinity 
within  which  marriage  should  be  prohibited,  and  all 
sexual  connection  sternly  forbidden.  Perhaps  we  need 
to  remind  ourselves  that  the  race  having  sprung  from 
a  single  pair  and  the  world  having  been  repeopled  a 
second  time  from  one  family,  those  primitive  examples 
may  have  sent  down  for  many  generations  a  certain 
looseness  which  called  for  special  restraint  and  a  care- 
fully defining  law  : (4.)  The  crimes  of  Sodom,  their 

polluting  influence  in  so  good  a  family  as  that  of  Lot  ; 
the  low  morals  of  Egyptian  life ;  some  sad  manifesta- . 
tions  in  the  early  history  of  .Jacob's  family;  the  horri- 
ble contagion  of  Moab  and  Midian  when  the  tribes  of 
Israel  came  socially  near  them; — these  and  kindred 
facts  will  be  readily  recalled  as  in  point  to  show  the 
necessity  of  vigorous  legislation  in  the  Mosaic  code  to 
counteract  these  untoward  influences  of  their  ante- 
cedent life  and  of  surrounding  society. The  thought- 
ful student  of  the  Mosaic  code  as  expanding  and  apply- 
ing the  seventh  commandment  Avill  be  painfully  im- 
pressed with  the  disadvantages  under  which  it  labored 
by  reason  of  the  toleration  of  pol3'gamy,  concubinage, 
and  domestic  servitude.  In  some  points  the  law  bore 
with  special  severity  upon  woman  as  compared  with 
man — a  sort  of  imperfection  which  was  simply  an  in- 
evitable result  of  tolerating  those  ancient  evils. It 

scarcely  need  be  suggested  that  the  value  of  this  part 
of  the  Mosaic  code  as  a  definite  model  for  Christian  leg- 


286  LAWS   ON    RIGHTS   OF    PROPERTY. 

islation  is  greatly  lessened  by  this  class  of  facts.  Wo- 
man's place  in  society  then  was  by  no  means  that 
which  the  genius  of  Christianity  has  given  her.  Un- 
questionably this  code  alleviated  her  condition  as  com- 
pared with  what  it  had  been,  and  brought  to  her  relief 
as  large  a  boon  of  blessing  as  the  genius  of  the  age 
would  bear. 

In  view,  partly  of  the  difficulty  of  treating  this  sub- 
ject with  minute  detail  in  a  way  to  make  its  discus- 
sion really  useful,  and  partly  of  its  inferior  value  in 
some  points  as  an  example,  for  reasons  above  indicated, 
I  shall  excuse  myself  from  any  minute  and  extended 
presentation  of  these  laws. 

In  general :  The  laws  accord  ample  space  to  the  con- 
demnation of  the  unnatural  crimes  of  sodomy  and 
bestiality  (Lev.  18  and  20,  and  Deut.  23 :  IJ,  18,  and 
27 :  21) :  also  to  incest,  which  for  historic  reasons 
needed  to  be  thoroughly  and  stringently  defined  (Lev. 
18  and  19  and  20)  :  to  adultery  proper;  to  the  case  of  a 
suspected  wife  (Num.  5 :  11-31) ; — to  seduction  and 
rape ;  to  aggravated  whoredom  in  the  form  of  public 
prostitution ;  of  prostitution  to  an  idol ;  of  impurity  in 

a  priest's  daughter;  in  a  woman  betrothed,  etc.,  etc 

The  study  of  these  laws  would  impress  pure-minded 
readers  with  a  sense  of  the  great  pains  taken  to  lift  up 
and  regenerate  a  sadly  low  and  debased  condition  of 
social  morals  on  these  points ;  and  also  with  a  sense  of 
special  difficulty  arising  from  the  fact  that  society  was 
quite  too  low  to  bear  the  introduction  and  enforcement 
of  the  Christian  law  of  marriage  as  against  concu- 
binage, polygamy,  and  the  debasement  inseparable 
from  erven  modified  slavery.  We  shall  rise  from  the 
careful  study  of  this  department  of  the  Hebrew  code 
Avith  gratitude  for  the  wisdom  and  goodness  which  at- 
tempted so  much,  yet  with  a  deeper  gratitude  that  a 
purer  and  higher  code  came  to  mankind  through  the 
law  of  Christ  and  the  spirit  of  an  enlightened  Chris- 
tian age. 

V.  Statutes  Protecting  Rights  of  Property;  (Expanding  the 
Eighth  Command). 

In  Ex.  22:  1-15,  25-28,  and  23:  4,  5,  we  have  the 
earliest    instalment  of   statutes   on   this   point.      The 


LAWS   ON    RIGHTS   OF    PROPERTY.  287 

staple  penalty  for  theft  was  restitution,  yet  varying 
widely  in  amount  to  meet  the  peculiarities  of  the  case. 
In  pastoral  life  cattle  were  specially  exposed ;  therefore 
the  law  ordained  that  if  the  thief  had  killed  the  ani- 
mal or  sold  it,  he  must  restore— of  oxen  five  for  one ; 
of  sheep,  four.  But  if  the  animal  was  found  alive  in 
liis  hand,  the  restitution  Avas  only  double — two  for  one. 
The  law  made  the  charitable  supposition  that  the  thief 
might  yet  repent  and  bring  back  the  stolen  propert}'-, 
and  purposely  favored  this  result.  On  the  other  hand 
the  selling  or  destruction  of  the  animal  would  indicate 
a  fixed  purpose  to  have  the  avails  of  it,  and  also  to 
render  detection  more  difficult — both  of  which  pur- 
poses  the  law  punished  sliar})ly. It  may   well  be 

noted  that  restitution  was  a  telling,  stinging  penalty, 
touching  the  sensibilities  of  the  thief  in  a  very  tender 
point.  The  indolent  or  unprincipled  man  who  thought 
to  live  upon  his  neighbor's  toil,  would  find  stealing 
very  unprofitable.  The  law  had  the  more  grip  in  those 
times  because  if  a  man  tried  to  put  his  property  out  of 
Ills  hands  to  evade  the  demand  for  restitution,  or  were 
in  fact  too  poor  to  restore  four  or  five  fold,  there  was  al- 
ways the  last   resort — the  law  could  take  him  for   a 

slave  ("servant")  and  make  him  ivork  it  out. This 

was  one  of  the  incidental  benefits  of  a  hard  system :  it 
could  be  applied  so  as  to  make  the  penalties  for  theft 
very  effectually  stringent. 

The  law  punished  trespass  upon  another's  property 
and  Avant  of  care  for  its  due  protection — on  which 
points,  subsequent  statutes  reaffirm  and  expand  Avhat 
we  first  find  in  Ex.  22.     (See  Deut.  22  :  1-4.) 

While  the  law  Avas  vigorous,  not  to  say  severe,  against 
criminal  theft,  it  Avas  yet  exceedingly  lenient  toicards  the 
unjortunate  and  innocent  foor,  e.  g., 

(1.)  It  gave  permission  to  eat  another's  property  for 
tlie  supijly  of  present  Avant.  The  specifications  are — 
The  grapes  of  thy  neighbor's  vineyard;  and  his  stand- 
ing corn.  Thou  mayest  eat  grapes,  but  not  j^ut  one  in 
thy  vessel;  mayest  pluck  the  heads  of  grain  in  thy 
liand,  but  never  move  thy  sickle  against  thy  neighbor's 
grain  (Deut.  28 :  24,  25). 

(2.)  It  regulated  thoughtfulh'  and  compassionately 
the  Avhole  subject  of  pledges^  i.  c.  securities  for  the  pay- 


288  LAWS  AGAINST   USURY. 

ment  of  debt.  As  first  announced  (Ex.  22:  26,  27),  it 
provided  that  if  the  poor  man's  garment  were  taken  in 
pledge,  it  must  certainly  be  restored  to  him  by  sundown, 
because  it  was  his  bed-covering  for  the  night;  and  God 
would  surel}'  hear  the  poor  man's  cry  if  he  were  com- 
pelled to  lay  himself  down  to  sleep  with  no  covering. 

As  subsequently  revised  or  enlarged  (Deut.  24 :  6, 

10-13,  17),  the  statute  peremptorily  forbade  taking  the 
upper  or  the  nether  millstone  in  pledge,  because  no 
oriental  family  could  subsist  without  these.  It  also 
forbade  the  creditor  to  go  in  to  the  poor  man's  house  to 
get  his  pledge  lest  he  fix  his  covetous  eye  on  something 
there,  but  required  him  to  wait  patiently  outside  for  the 
poor  man  to  bring  it  out — a  provision  which  manifests 
a  specially  delicate  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  poor. 
He  was  not  obliged  to  expose  his  deep  poverty,  nor  to 
disclose  all   he   had  to  the   greedy  gaze   of  his'  more 

Avealthy  neighbor. The  law  also  forbade  the  taking 

of  a  Avidow's  raiment  in  pledge. 

(3.)  The  law  was  entirely  explicit  and  positive  in  its 
prohibition  oi usury.  By  "usury  "  the  Hebrew  meant, 
not  merely  excessive  or  illegal  interest,  but  interest  it- 
self— all  interest — money  paid  for  the  use  of  money,  or 
any  thing  valuable  paid  for  the  use  of  any  other  prop- 
erty borrowed. The  first  statute  (Ex.  22  :  25)  was 

general,  yet  fully  covered  the  principle  :  "  If  thou  lend 
money  to  any  of  my  people  that  is  poor  by  thee,  thou 
shalt  not  be  to  him  as  an  usurer,  neither  shalt  thou  lay 
upon  him  usury."  The  law  contemplated  the  poor 
only ;  for  the  rich  are  presumed  to  be  above  the  neces- 
sity of  borrowing  money.  The  borrowing  of  money  as 
capital  to  be  used  in  trade,  or  in  manufacture,  or  in  the 
purchase  of  land,  had  no  place  at  all  in  the  business 
economy  of  Israel.  The  borrowing  which  the  law  con- 
templated was  only  that  of  the  poor  man  to  meet  his 
imperative  necessities.  A  man  who  had  no  accumula- 
tions to  draw  from  for  a  sick  day  or  a  casualty,  must 
borrow  or  go  hungry.  God  speaks  of  such  poor  as  "  my 
people,"  and  forbids  taking  interest  on  what  they  must 
needs  laorrow. 

In  the  later  books  (Lev.  25 :  35-38  and  Deut.  23 :  19, 
20)  we  have  perhaps  a  later  and  revised  form  of  the 
statute.  "  If  thy  brother  be  waxen  poor,  thou  shalt  re- 
lieve   him.     Take   thou  no  usury  of  him  or  increase; 


LAWS    RELIEVING    THE    POOR.  289 

fear  thy  God,  that  thy  neighbor  may  live  with  thee. 
Thou  shalt  not  give  him  thy  money  upon  usury,  nor 
lend  him  thy  victuals  for  increase."  In  Deut.  (as  above) 
the  law  discriminates  between  "thy  brother"  and  a 
stranger.  "Thou  shalt  not  lend  upon  usury  to  thy 
brother;  unto  a  stranger  thou  mayest  lend  upon  usury." 
The  ground  for  this  discrimination  against  the  stranger 
may  be  a  purpose  to  discourage  his  residence  in  the 
land ;  or  it  may  be  related  to  the  general  fact  that  for- 
eigners were  the  men  of  trafiic.  (The  original  words  for 
Canaanite  and  for  merchant  were  the  same.)  Trades- 
men, doing  business  on  borrowed  capital,  might  afibrd 
to  pay  interest;  and  on  every  principle  of  right  and 
justice,  ought  to  do  so.  But  God  did  not  encourage  the 
Israelites  in  traffic  with  other  nations.  It  would  have 
been  quite  too  perilous  to  their  morals,  and  to  their 
religion. 

The  reader  will  scarcely  need  the  suggestion  that  the 
Hebrew  law  against  interest  applies  in  our  Christian 
age  only  to  the  case  of  loans  made  to  the  poor  to  meet 
their  necessities.  The  spirit  of  the  law  unquestionably 
does  apply  in  such  cases,  and  does  not  apply  to  any 
other. 

(4.)  Many  special  statutes  contemplated  relief  for  the  poor. 

The  corners  and  the  gleanings  of  the  harvest  field ; 

a  forgotten  sheaf;  a  few  clusters  of  grapes  also  and 
some  olives  on  the  olive  tree,  must  be  left  for  the  poor 
and  the  stranger  (Lev.  19  :  9,  10,  and  23 :  32,  and  Deut. 
24:  19-22) — each  of  these  successive  statutes  adding 

somewhat  in  detail  to  the  preceding. The  day  wages 

of  the  poor  laborer  must  be  promptly  paid,  even  on  the 
very  sanie  day  (Lev.  19:  13  and  Deut.  24:  14,  15).  But 
especially  the  sabbatic  year  (each  seventh)  was  de- 
signed to  be  a  special  benefaction  to  the  poor.  This  law 
(Deut.  15  :  1-11)  uses  chiefly  the  word  "release  "  in  re- 
gard to  the  debts  of  the  poor.  Critics  are  sharply  di- 
vided over  the  question  whether  this  release  was  an 
entire  remission  of  debts,  or  only  a  stay  of  collection,  put- 
ting it  over  for  this  one  year.  In  ifavor  of  the  latter 
view,  Michaelis  and  others  urge  that  the  reason  for  stay 
of  collection  was  that  no  cultivation  of  land  was  per- 
mitted during  this  year,  and  hence  there  Avere  no  crops 
of  this  sort,  and  therefore  only  diminished  means  of 
paying  debts.      Also  tb.at  the  law  might  be  so  abused 


290  LAWS   RELIEVING    THE    POOR. 

as  mostly  to  annihilate  all  rights  of  property,  inasmuch 
as  the  statute  (v.  9)  would  virtually  put  the  property 
of  the  more  wealthy  within  the  control  of  the  less 
wealthy.  Thou  shalt  not  Avithhold  because  the  year  of 
release  is  at  hand,  etc. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  arguments  for  construing  the 
law  to  mean  an  actual  release  of  debt  in  the  case  of 
"thy  poor  brother"  or  neighbor,  are  strong,  and  in  my 
view,  conclusive ;  e.  g. 

(a.)  This  is  the  legitimate  meaning  of  the  original 
Avord  translated  "release."  There  should  never  be  any 
deviation  from  the  legitimate  sense  of  the  original 
staple  word,  without  cogent  reasons — a  principle  whicli 
is  doubly  strong  in  the  words  of  a  laiv. 

(b.)  This  construction  is  fully  in  harmony  with  the 
genius  of  the  entire  code  in  all  its  statutes  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor. 

(c.)  On  .this  construction  the  limitations  of  the  stat- 
ute are  precisel}^  in  place  ;  e.  g. — to  the  case  of  "  thy  poor 
brother."  "  Thou  shalt  release  save  when  there  shall  be 
no  poor  among  you  " :  also — "  If  there  be  among  you  a 
poor  man  of  one  of  thy  brethren,  etc.,  thou  shalt  not 
harden  thy  heart  nor  shut  thy  hand  from  thy  poor 
brother,  but  shalt  open  thy  hand  wide  unto  him,  and 
shall  surely  lend  unto  him  sufficient  for  his  need  in 
that  which  he  wanteth" — [not  all  your  property:  'you 
are  not  required  to  make  over  every  thing  you  have]. 
"  Beware  that  there  be  not  a  thought  in  thy  wicked 
heart,  saying — The  year  of  release  is  at  hand"  [and 
I  shall  never  get  my  money  or  my  grain  back  again], 
"and  he  cry  unto  the  Lord  against  thee,  and  it  be  sin 
unto  thee."  This  shaxnng  of  the  statute  plainly  con- 
templates a  real  remission  of  this  sort  of  debts  on  each 
seventh  year. 

(d.)  To  the  same  purport  is  this — that  the  law  ex- 
cepts debts  against  a  foreigner  :  "  Of  a  foreigner  thou 
may  est  exact  it."  Our  translators  have  taken  the  lib- 
erty to  ad^l  the  word  "again,"  but  without  the  least 
authority  from  the  Hebrew.  The  Avord  "  again  "  seems 
to  come  from  the  theory  that  this  statute  required  a 
stay  of  collection  for  one  year  in  the  case  of  the  for- 
eigner: but  of  this  there  is  no  proof  in  the  law  as  it 

came  from  the  hand  of  Moses. In  the  time  of  Nehe- 

miah  (5  :  1-12)  there  was  unquestionably  an  entire  re- 


THE    JUBILEE.  291 

mission  of  debts  to  the  poor,  and  not  the  least  hint  that 
this  was  going  beyond  the  Mosaic  hiw.  On  the  con- 
trary it  is  implied  that  "the  fear  of  our  God"  (v.  9) — 
equivalent  to  obedience — would  require  just  this. 

This  seventh  or  sabbatic  year  had  other  special  fea- 
tures besides  the  remission  of  the  poor  man's  debts  as 
in  Deut.  15  :  1-11.  These  additional  features  appear  in 
Lev.  25,  which  provides  (vs.  2-7)  that  this  j^ear  shall 
be  a  Sabbath  of  rest  to  the  soil — rest  from  its  usual  cul- 
tivation.  In  this  chapter  we  find  also  a  kindred  in- 
stitution— the  Jubilee — each  fiftieth  year — next  follow- 
ing each  seventh  Sabbatic  year.  Inasmuch  as  this 
arrangement  would  bring  two  years  of  land-rest  together, 
the  Lord  gave  a  special  promise  that  the  fertility  of  the 
year  immediately  preceding  should  suffice  against  the 
necessities  of  these  two  years  of  rest — a  fact  Avhich  tes- 
tifies tliat  God  ruled  his  people  Israel  under  a  system 
of  special  providences.  If  IMoses  is  to  be  considered  as 
even  in  a  secondary  sense  the  legislator  of  the  people, 
he  must  have  had  unbounded  confidence  in  God's  spe- 
cial direction  and  counsel  in  these  statutes. 

The  law  of  the  Jubilee  gave  personal  liberty  to  all 
Ijondmen.  Of  this,  more  must  be  said  under  "  Hebrew 
servitude."  It  also  jirovidcd  for  the  return  of  all  real 
estate — all  the  lands  of  Canaan — to  their  original  pos- 
sessors. Lands  could  be  alienated  only  till  the  jubilee. 
They  were  sold,  if  at  all,  subject  to  this  law.  Conse- 
(luently  a  sale  of  land  was  only  a  lease  for  at  longest 
forty-nine  years — i.  e.  for  the  years  intervening  till  the 
next  jubilee.  They  were  subject  to  redemi^tion  at  any 
time — the  price  to  be  graduated  by  the  3-cars  which 
the  lease  had  to  run.  Houses  in  walled  cities  were  re- 
deemable only  Avith  in  one  year  from  sale;  but  in  un- 
Avalled  cities,  houses  followed  the  law  of  land,  returning 
with  the  land  to  their  original  owner  at  the  jubilee. 

The  houses  of  Levites  were  accounted  as  land. These 

statutes  had  a  twofold  purpose;  to  afford  relief  to  the 
poor ;  and  to  prevent  the  entire  alienation  of  the  lands 
of  Canaan  from  the  tribes,  families,  and  individuals  to 

whom  they  were  originally  given. The  question,  how 

far  these  institution.s — the  Sabbatic  year  and  the  Jubi- 
lee— were  observed  in  the  future  liistory  of  Israel  is  for- 
eign from  our  present  purpose. 


292  CRIMES   AGAINST    REPUTATION. 

VI.   Crimes  against  reputation  ;  (the  details  of  the  ninth 
commandment) . 

Here  are  stringent  statutes  against  false  accusation 
and  false  ivitness.  Under  this  general  head  fall  two  dis- 
tinct cases : — (a)  Testimony  given  to  favor  the  guilty 
(Ex.  23  :  1,  3)  ; and  (b)  allegations  designed  to  con- 
demn the  innocent  (Deut.  19  :  16-21). 

(a).  The  former  class  (as  given  Ex.  23 :  1,  3)  forbids 
not  merely  originating  ("raise"),  but  taking  up  a  false 
report  and  seconding  it  by  indorsement.  It  warns  men 
not  to  be  drawn  in  to  help  the  wicked  in  their  malicious 
plots  to  screen  each  other,  though  they  be  many.  The 
cause  of  the  poor  man  which  you  may  not  favor  (v.  3) 
is  certainly  supposed  to  be  a  bad  one.  Your  S5aiipathy 
for  him  as  poor  must  not  override  justice  and  truth. 

(b).  False  witness,  purposed  to  condemn  the  innocent, 
is  met  by  the  statute  (Deut.  19  :  16-21).  The  accuser 
and  the  accused  are  to  be  brought  face  to  face  before  the 
Lord  and  before  the  priests  and  the  judges  who  are  to 
"make  diligent  inquisition,"  obviously  hearing  both 
parties,  and  if  the  accuser  is  proved  to  be  a  false  witness, 
"  Ye  shall  do  to  him  as  he  thought  to  do  to  his  brother; 
thine  eye  shall  not  pity,  but  life  shall  go  for  life ;  eye 
for  eye,"  etc. 

Tale-bearing,  i.  e.  tattling,  retailing  scandal  mali- 
ciously or  for  a  past-time,  needed  the  force  of  law  to 
abate  and  suppress  it  in  those  times  as  in  most  other 
ages.  "  Thou  shalt  not  go  up  and  down  as  a  tale-bearer 
among  thy  people,  neither  shalt  thou  stiind  against  the 
blood  of  thy  neighbor.  I  am  the  Lord  "  (Lev.  19 :  16-18) — 
"Standing  against  the  blood,"  must  mean — taking 
ground  against  the  very  life,  and  must  not  be  construed 
to  forbid  truthful  testimony  against  the  real  murderer. 
But  the  informer  should  constantly  remember  that  his 
neighbor's  interests  and  life  are  too  precious  to  be 
lightly  tampered  with.  Thy  neighbor  may  have  said 
or  done  something  wrong.  Your  dut}^  in  the  case  is  not 
to  scatter  broadcast  all  j^ou  know  and  more  than 
you  know  of  his  misdeeds ;  but  first  of  all — "  Thou 
shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  thy  heart,"  but  "love 
him  as  th^^self"  (v.  18);  and  next,  "Thou  shalt  in 
anywise  [by  all  means]  rebuke  thy  neighbor,  and 
not   suffer   sin   upon    hiui." This    last    clause    has 


CRIMES   AGAINST    REPUTATION.  293 

been  understood  in  two  ways  : — (a)  Thou  shalt  not  suffer 
the  sin  to  lie  upon  him  Avith  no  effort  on  thy  part  to 
bring  him  to  repentance :  or  (b)  Thou  shalt  not  bear 
on  thine  own  conscience  the  sin  of  neglecting  to  ad- 
monish him ;  i.  e.  thou  shalt  "not  submit  to  bear  this 
sin  on  his  account — a  sin  which  comes  of  knowing  his 
crime  and  of  failing  in  your  duty  to  save  him  by  means 
of  judicious  and  fraternal  rebuke.  The  latter  construc- 
tion is  best  sustained  b}^  Hebrew  usage  of  the  words. 
See  the  same  Avords,  Lev.  22  :  9  and  Num.  18:  32,  and 
the  preposition  ^^vpon  him,"  in  Ps.  69:  8 — ^'For  thy  sake 
have  I  borne,"  etc.  The  verb  in  this  clause  means 
rather  to  ^^bear^^  in  your  own  person,  than  to  "suffer"  to 
exist  in  another. The  passage,  so  interpreted,  as- 
sumes it  to  be  your  solemn  duty  to  labor  to  bring  your 
neighbor  to  repentance  if  you  are  cognizant  of  his 
wrong-doing,  and  implies  that  you  must  lie  under  a 
load  of  sin  if  you  fail  to  do  so.  But  do  it  in  love  (loving 
him  even  as  yourself)  as  well  as  in  all  fidelity  to  his 
soul,  as  also  to  your  own.  Do  this  instead  of  going  up 
and  down  to  scatter  this  scandal  among  those  Avho  will 
do  nothing  to  save  your  erring  neighbor,  and  nothing 
to  relieve  your  conscience  of  your  responsibility  in  his 
behalf. 

While  this  statute  bears  against  giving  information 
about  misdeeds  of  minor  sort,  there  were  two  crimes  of 
such  magnitude  that  every  man  was  bound  to  testify 
in  the  proper  form  against  them;  viz.  idolatry  and 
murd(!r.  See  the  case  of  idolatry  in  Deut.  13 :  6-14 : 
"  Neither  shalt  thou  conceal  him,  but  thou  shalt  surely 
kill  him :  thy  hand  shall  be  first  upon  him  to  put  him 
to  death,  and  afterward,  the  hand  of  all  the  people." 
(Also  V.  14) The  expiation  for  murder  by  an  un- 
known hand  included  this  most  solemn  protestation : 
"  Our  hands  have  not  shed  this  blood,  neither  have  our 
ej^cs  seen  it."  Of  course,  whoever  might  have  seen  was 
most  sacredl}'  bound  to  testify. 


CHATTER    XVIII. 


THE  CIVIL  INSTITUTES  OF  MOSES,  CONTINUED. 
V^II.  Hebrew  Servitude. 

Servitude  existed  before  Moses.  It  was  no  part  of 
the  mission  of  the  Hebrew  code  to  create  it.  Let  it  be 
forever  admitted  that  the  laws  given  of  God  through 
Moses  can  not  be  held  resi^onsible  for  the  existence  of 
slavery.  They  found  it  existing  and  proceeded  there- 
fore to  modify  it;  to  soften  its  more  rigid  features;  to  ex- 
tract its  carnivorous  teeth ;  to  ordain  that  the  slave  had 
rights  which  the  master  and  the  nation  were  bound  to 
respect — in  short,  to  tone  down  the  severities  of  the 
system  from  unendurable  slavery  to  very  tolerable 
servitude. 

By  what  means  tins  this  change  wrought?  What  new 
elements  were  introduced  to  abate  the  severities  of  real 
slavery  ? 

1.  Man-stealing  ivas  punished  with  death.  "  He  that 
stealeth  a  man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his 
hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death"  (Ex.  21:  16). 
The  law  as  recited  in  Deut.  21:  7  applies  to  a  man 
stealing  one  of  his  brethren  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
As  stated  in  Ex.  21 :  16  it  is  universal,  with  no  limita- 
tion. Stealing  a  man  is  the  crime.  I  see  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  the  law  was  intended  to  apply  to  men  of 
every  nationality — to  men  as  made  in  God's  image  of 
whatever  nation. 

This  statute  struck  at  the  very  root  of  real  slavery. 
Both  stealing  and  selling  contemj^late  propert}' — as- 
sume the  fact  of  a  property  value.  The  spirit  of  the 
hiw  is — Men  shall  never  be  degraded  into  merchandise. 
Every  body  knows  that  all  American  slavery  began 
with  stealing  men  from  Africa  and  selling  them. 
Servitude,  involving  a  certain  right  to  service  and 
property  in  service,  there  might  be,  despite  of  this  He- 
brew law;  but  real  slavery — property  in  man  as  dis- 
(294) 


HEBKEW   SERVITUDE.  295 

tinct  from  property  in  his  services,  there  could  not  be 
under  this  law.  Moreover,  the  severity  of  this  penalty 
must  have  thrown  its  shield  of  protection  over  the 
entire  system  of  servitude.  It  was  a  very  palpable  in- 
dication of  God's  stern  displeasure  against  the  whole 
system  of  chattelizing  human  beings. 

2.  The  Hebrew  law  positively  forbade  the  rendition 
of  fugitives.  "Thou  shalt  not  deliver  to  his  master  the 
servant  that  has  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thee  :  he 
shall  dwell  with  thee,  even  among  you  in  that  place 
which  he  sliall  choose  in  one  of  thy  gates  where  it 
liketh  him  best;  thou  shalt  not  oppress  him"  (Deut. 

23:  15,  16). Observe  it  was  not  only  impossible  to 

have  any  law  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitives — i.  e.  to 
have  "  a  fugitive  slave  law "  of  the  recent  American 
pattern ;  but  the  law  was  put  on  the  other  side.  It  de- 
clared— "Thou  shalt  not  deliver  him  up  to  his  mas- 
ter"— shalt  not  give  his  master  information  and  help 
the  arrest;  but  shalt  let  him  choose  his  abode  by  his 
own  free  and  manly  will.  If  his  hardshijis  are  such 
under  his  bondage  that  he  prefers  to  take  his  risk  of 
finding  a  better  living  elsewhere,  let  liim  try  it.  Let 
no  man  stand  in  his  Avay.  fie  would  not  leave  his 
master  if  his  personal  rights  and  interests  were  projo- 
erly  cared  for.  But  if  his  master  is  too  selfish,  or  too 
cruel,  or  too  exacting  of  labor,  or  too  stingy  of  bread  or 
clothing,  who  shall  judge  but  the  servant  himself? 
Therefore  let  the  servant  bettor  his  own  condition  if  he 
can,  and  let   all .  selfish,  savage-hearted  masters   take 

warning ! Such    laws    exorcise    the    real    spirit  of 

slavery  with  blessed  rapidity.  It  would  require  but 
few  such  ameliorating  statutes  to  tone  it  down  from  un- 
endurable slavery  to  very  tolerable  servitude. 

The  spirit  of  this  law  is  altogether  the  spirit  of  the 
Great  Lawgiver  Avhen  he  found  the  Hebrews  sorely  op- 
pressed in  Egypt ;  smote  oflf  their  chains ;  brought  them 
forth  from  their  house  of  bondage,  and  placed  them  be- 
yond all  reclamation.  AVhat  he  required  his  people 
now  to  do  in  behalf  of  any  oppressed  servant  was  only 
in  spirit  what  he  had  done  for  them. 

3.  Severe  personal  injuries  gave  the  slave  his  free- 
dom. "If  a  man  smite  the  eye  of  his  servant  or  the 
eye  of  his  maid  that  it  perish,  he  shall  let  him  go  free 
for  his  eye's  sake."     So  of  the  tootli  (Ex.  21 :  20,  27). 


296  HEBREW   SERVITUDE. 

The  eye  and  the  tooth  are  but  specimen  illustrations 
of  the  principle.     A  charge  of  shot  in  the  leg  could  not 

be  less  under  this  law  than  a  passport  to  freedom. 

Moreover,  the  statutes  very  specifically  enjoined  clem- 
ency and  forbade  rigor  in  the  treatment  of  Hebrew 
servants  (Lev.  25:  39-43,46). 

4.  Of  wider  sweep  in  its  influence  and  of  inexpressi- 
ble value  was  tlic  system  of  periodical  emancipation.  The 
terra  of  service  for  the  Hebrew-born  was  limited  to  six 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  term  they  went  out  free. 
Servants  of  foreign  birth  (as  we  shall  see)  went  out  at 

the  Jubilee,  each  fiftieth   year. The   effect  of  this 

law  was  at  once  to  lift  from  the  heart  the  terrible  in- 
cubus of  a  life-long  bondage — that  sense  of  a  hopeless 
doom  which  knows  no  relief  till  death.  Whatever  the 
amount  of  discomfort  or  suffering  involved  in  servitude 
might  have  been,  the  Hebrew  servant  had  under  this 

law  the  prospect  of  his  freedom  at  no  distant  day. 

Moreover  the  accompanying  provisions  of  this  law  were 
thoroughly  humane.  The  servant  who  had  sold  him- 
self through  extreme  poverty  (Lev.  25 :  47-55)  might 
be  redeemed  at  any  time  by  a  friend,  or  if  he  could 
command  the  means  by  extra  labor  or  skill,  he  might 

redeem  himself. When  his  term  expired,  his  master 

must  not  send  him  away  empt}^,  but  must  furnish  him 
liberally  out  of  his  flock  and  out  of  his  floor  (grain), 
and  even  out  of  his  tcine-press — of  any  thing  and  every 
thing  wherewith  the  Lord  had  blessed  the  master,  he 
was  to  impart  liberally  to  his  manumitted  servant 
(Deut.  15 :  12-15).  So  the  servant  would  have  a  fair 
start  in  his  new  self-supporting  life.  It  was  a  fore- 
thoughtful provision,  full  of  the  milk  of  a  more  than 
human  kindness. 

Apparently  this  periodic  emancipation  applied  to 
every  class  of  Hebrew  servants — to  him  who  had  sold 
himself  because  he  had  become  too  jwor  to  provide  for 
his  family;  to  him  who  had  been  taken  and  sold  for 
debt ;  and  to  him  who  had  been  sold  into  servitude  for 
crime.     This  latter  case,  however,  is  doubtful. 

Noticeably,  this  law  provides  for  the  family  rights  of 
the  servant.  If  he  had  brought  his  wife  with  him  into 
this  state,  he  took  her  out  with  himself,  and  of  course 
his  children  also.  If  his  master  had  given  him  a  wife, 
he  retained  her  because  of  his  propert}'  interest  in  her 


PERIODICAL    EMANCIPATION.  297 

services,  and  her  children  with  her  for  humanity's 
sake;  for  children  under  six  3-ears  of  age  need  their 
mother's  care.  Wives  in  that  age  of  the  world  were 
paid  for. 

Let  it  be  noticed,  the  law  assumes  that  possibly  the 
servant  may  love  his  wife  and  his  children  and  even 
his  master  so  well  that  he  chooses  not  to  leave  them. 
Very  well;  if  he  will  consent  to  come  before  the  judges 
and  in  a  solemn  judicial  manner,  testify  to  this  love  of 
his  heart,  and  moreover,  will  consent  to  endure  the 
rather  uncomfortable  operation  of  having  his  ear  bored 
through  with  an  aAvl,  then  he  may  remain  forever — i.  e. 
during  life.  But  the  discomforts  of  this  operation  were 
intended  to  bear  somewhat  against  this  unlimited 
servitude.  The  law  seemed  to  say  to  every  servant — "  It 
would  probably  be  better  for  you  to  be  your  own 
master  and  live  in  freedom,  rather  than  in  even  tljis 

very  comfortable  servitude. Every  provision  of  this 

statute  had  a  purpose.  The  servant  must  be  brought 
before  the  judges  to  express  in  this  public  manner  his 
choice  to  remain  in  servitude;  for  this  method  would 
make  it  impossible  for  the  master  to  misrepresent  the 
will  of  his  servant.  Moi'cover,  it  seems  probable  that 
boring  the  ear  was  no  badge  of  honor  but  the  opposite, 
and  therefore  would  bear  against  the  man's  choice  of 
perpetual  servitude. 

The  law  made  special  provision  for  the  case  of  female 
servants.  The  original  statute  (Ex.  21:  7-11)  put  her 
case  on  a  different  footing  from  that  of  her  brother. 
"She  shall  not  go  out  as  the  men-servants  do."  The  lan- 
guage— "  If  a  man  sell  his  daughter  to  be  a  maid-serv- 
ant " — may  seem  at  first  view  to  be  a  case  of  slave-sale, 
involving  real  property  in  human  flesh  and  bones.  A 
closer  examination  will  show  that  it  comes  under  the 
usage  of  selling  daughters  to  become  wives;  for  this  pur- 
chase "betrothed  her  to  her  master,"  or  to  "his  son," 
and  the  law  made  special  provision  for  her  rights  as 
such ;  viz.  that  in  case  her  master  is  not  pleased  with 
her,  he  shall  let  her  be  redeemed,  "and  shall  have  no 
power  to  sell  her  unto  a  strange  nation."  If  betrothed 
to  his  son,  he  shall  deal  with  her  as  with  a  daughter; 
if  the  son  take  another  wife,  he  shall  not  abate  from 
his  duty  as  a  husband  toward  her;  and  if  he  refuse  to 
do  all  the  law  demands,  she  is  free — redeemed  by  law, 


298  THE    SLAVERY   BEFORE    MOSES. 

"  without  money." These  statutes  of  course  shape 

themselves  to  the  existing  usages  in  respect  to  polyg- 
amy, concubinage,  and  easy  divorce,  sedulously  protect- 
ing the  rights  of  a  female  servant  under  these  most 
unfavorable  usages. 

It  seems  probable  that  these  kind  and  considerate 
provisions  failed  to  protect  her  rights  as  fully  as  the 
spirit  of  the  law  intended,  and  therefore  a  farther  modi- 
fication appears  at  a  later  period;  for  Deut.  15  :  17  de- 
clares that  the  six  5^ears'  emancipation  law  shall  apply 
to  her  also  as  truly  as  to  her  brother; — "and  unto  thy 
maid-servant  thou  shalt  do  likewise." 

5.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  what  we  may  call  "  relig- 
ious privileges"  incladed  rest  from  labor  and  more  or 
less  of  religious  and  social  festivity,  the  law  was  very 
specific  in  stipulating  that  the  man-servant  and  the 
maid-servaut  must  share  in  all  these  equally  with  the 
son  and  the  daughter.  We  see  this  in  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath ;  in  the  feast  upon  the  second  tithes  (Deut. 
12 :  17,  IS) ;  and  in  two  of  the  great  festivals,  viz.  the 
Pentecost   and   the    Feast  of   Tabernacles    (Deut.   16  : 

11,  14). Thus  they  were  put  religiously  and  socially 

upon  the  same  footing  as  children  in  the  family.  No 
ban  of  exclusion,  no  stigma  of  caste,  could  attach  to 
their  condition  so  long  as  these  statutes  were  duly  ob- 
served. 

6.  By  usage  and  without  the  necessity  of  statute, 
Hebrew  servants  held  property.  The  old  American 
doctrine — "  The  slave  can  own  nothing" — had  no  place 
in  the  system  of  Hebrew  servitude.  The  proof  is  two- 
fold: ^(a)  The   statutes   provided   that  "if  able   he 

might  redeem  himself"  (Lev.  25:  49).  This  permis- 
sion would  be  only  a  taunting  insult  if  in  fact  no  He- 
brew servant  could  hold  property. (b).  The  light  of 

history  bears  witness  :  Ziba  was  a  servant  of  the  house 
of  Saul ;  but  he  had  servants  under  him — a  round 
score  ;  "  fifteen  sons  and  twenty  servants"  (2  Sam.  9  :  10 
and  19 :  17),  and  seems  to  have  had  charge  of  cultivat- 
ing Saul's  estates. 

Thus  manifold  and  effective  were  the  humane  pro- 
visions which  softened  the  severities  of  slavery,  toning 
them  down  to  a  very  tolerable  system  of  servitude. 


THE   SLAVERY   BEFORE  MOSES.  299 

The  Slavery  that  Existed  before  Moses. 

We  have  spoken  of  Hebrew  servitude  as  a  modified 
system — which  raises  the  question — "modified"  from 
what?  What  was  the  pre-existing  system  upon  which 
these  modifications  were  superinduced?  A  full  answer 
must  include  (a)  The  patriarchal  system  as  it  appears 
in  the  case  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  :  and  (b)  The 
system  of  Egypt  and  perhaps  other  contemporary  na- 
tions. 

(a.)  In  the  patriarchal  s^-stem  servitude  could  not 
possibly  have  been  compulsory.  It  must  have  been 
voluntary.  Force,  coercion,  was  utterly  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Abraham  had  neither  army  nor  police  to  hold 
his  slaves  in  bondage.  In  fact  they  were  his  armed 
soldiers  as  against  freebooting  incursions  or  any  hostile 
assault  whatever.  Manifestly  they  lived  with  him 
while  they  chose — no  longer.  Some  of  them  rose  to 
bear  important  responsibilities,  e.  g.  Eliezer  (Gen.  24)  ; 
his  two  young  men  who  went  with  him  and  Isaac  to 
Moriah  (Gen.  22). Isaac  "had  great  store  of  serv- 
ants (Gen.  26:  14),  but  there  is  not  the  least  intima- 
tion that  the}^  were  entailed  as  part  of  his  estate  to 
either  Esau  or  Jacob ;  or  that  he  received  them  by  in- 
heritance from  Abraham. Jacob  had  man}^  servants 

(Gen.  30:  43),  and  in  fact  must  have  had  to  help  him 
in  the  care  of  his  flocks  and  herds :  but  the  history 
shows  that  he  did  not  take  them  with  him  into  Eg3^pt. 
Joseph's  invitation  left  out  the  servants  (Gen.  45 :  10, 
11.),  and  the  record  specifies  all  the  family  except  the 
servants  and  gives  us  the  actual  enumeration-  all 
servants  omitted  (Gen.  46 :  5-26).  Property  in  servants 
in  the  American  sense,  there  was  none. 

(b.)  Of  Egyptian  slavery  enough  is  known  to  show  that 
they  bought  slaves  brought  in  from  other  nations,  hold- 
ing therefore  a  property  right  in  them,  and  that  they 
constituted  a  menial  class  in  society. 

The  condition  of  the  Israelites  under  oppression  there 
was  peculiar.  INIanifestly  they  Avere  not  held  by  indi- 
vidual Egyptians  as  their  personal  propert}',  but  rather 
by  the  crown.  The  king  of  Egypt  appears  as  the  great 
slave-holder  of  the  Hebrew  people,  making  levies  u])on 
th(Mii    for  laborers  at   his   pleasure,  and  exacting  the 


300  THE   JUBILEE. 

severest  tasks  with  no  limitations  but  his  own  will  on 
the  one  hand  and  their  possible  endurance  on  the 
other.  The  question  of  letting  the  people  go  was  (at 
least  mainly)  personal  to  himself  and  to  his  throne. 
His  merciless  severity  would  naturally  tend  to  make 
slavery  in  Egypt  heartlessly  cruel.  Laws  to  restrain 
masters  from  severity  could  not  be  thought  of  under 
such  kings.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  when,  at  and  after 
Hinai,  the  Lord  came  to  legislate  for  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple, fresh  from  Egyptian  usages  and  laws,  there  was 
abundant  occasion  for  statutes  to  modify  the  severities 
of  human  bondage.  With  telling  force  the  Lord  could 
say — Never  oppress  your  servants;  ye  know  how  op- 
pression feels ! 

The  Jubilee.— {Ley.  25). 

In  this  chapter  and  here  only  we  have  an  account  of 
this  peculiar  institution.  The  following  j)oints  in  it 
deserve  special  attention. 

1.  Its  main  scope  and  purpose  were  manifestly  of  the 
same  sort  with  those  of  the  Sabbatic  year — a  j'ear  of 
rest  from  labor,  of  recuperation  for  both  the  laborer  and 
his  lands,  and  of  joy  in  the  God  of  their  mercies.  Par- 
ticularly it  made  provision  for  restoring  lands  which 
had  been  alienated  by  any  means  during  the  forty-nine 
intervening  years.  On  this  eventful  year  all  lands  were 
to  return  to  the  original  proprietor  and  to  his  estate. 
The  law  provided  that  alienated  lands  might  be  re- 
deemed at  any  time  for  a  price  graduated  by  the  years 
intervening  before  the  Jubilee.  But  if  the  poor  man 
was  unable  to  redeem  his  land  and  had  no  relative  or 
friend  to  redeem  it  for  him  before  the  Jubilee,  it  then 
returned  to  him  by  the  statute  with  no  redemption 
price. 

2.  We  must  note  its  bearing  upon  Hebrew  servants 
and  its  relation  to  the  seventh  year  emancipation  law. 

It  treats  of  two  classes  of  servants  of  Hebrew  blood  ; 

those  who  had  sold  themselves,  because  of  their  poverty, 
to  a  fellow  Israelite ;  and  those  who  for  the  same  reason 
had  sold  themselves  to  a  wealthy  foreigner  residing  in 
the  land.  As  to  the  former  class,  the  law  enjoins  kind 
treatment ;  puts  strongly  the  distinction  between  the 
hired  and   the  bond-servant — permitting   servants   of 


THE   JUBILEE.  301 

Hebrew  birth  to  be  bold  in  tbe  former  state  but  not  in 
the   latter;    and   finally  gave    him   and   his   children 

freedom  at  the  Jubilee. Inasmuch  as   the  seventh 

year  emancipation  law  applied  to  this  very  class  of 
servants,  if  it  were  enforced  there  could  be  no  Hebrew 
servants  to  go  out  at  the  Jubilee  except  those  who  had 
not  yet  served  six  full  years.  This  seems  to  be  the 
bearing  of  the  law  of  the  Jubilee  upon  Hebrew  servants. 
We  can  not  assume  that  it  superseded  the  seventh  year 
law  and  took  its  place.  The  historic  passage  (Jer.  34  : 
8-17)  would  quite  forbid  such  a  construction. 

As  to  the  second  class — those  who  had  sold  themselves 
to  a  foreigner — the  law  gave  the  right  of  redemption  to 
any  of  his  friends  or  to  himself,  and  fixed  the  terms, 
providing  for  his  freedom  at  the  Jubilee. 

3.  The  most  difficult  point  is,  the  bearing  of  the  Ju- 
bilee, if  any,  vpon  servants  of  foreign  birth.  Did  it,  or  did 
it  not,  provide  for  their  emancipation? 

The  passage  (Lev.  25 :  9,  10)  seems  very  strong  in 
favor  of  universal  liberty,  not  omitting  bond-servants 
of  foreign  birth.  The  words  are — '^Proclaim  liberty 
through  all  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof ^  This 
proclamation  was  made  with  sound  of  trumpet,  ringing 
out  its  shrill  blast  over  all  the  land.  Now  let  it  be 
considered :  If  foreigners  were  not  included,  and  if  the 
seventh  year  emancipation  law  had  been  duly  enforced, 
there  could  have  been  but  a  meager  showing  of  freed- 
men — only  those  few  Hebrew  servants  who  had  not 
filled  out  their  six  years  of  service.  Is  it  credible  that 
so  much  proclamation  and  so  much  public  display  could 
have  meant  only  the  emancipation  of  say  one-tenth  or 

one-twentieth  of  all  the  servants  in  the  land? At 

any  point  of  their  history  the  number  of  foreign  servants 
ought  to  have  greatly  exceeded  the  number  of  Hebrew 

birth — for  two  reasons : (a.)  The  law  encouraged  the 

taking  of  foreigners  into  this  relation  : and  (b.)  They 

continued  in  it  at  least  till  the  Jubilee- — their  maximum 
service  being  therefore  forty-nine  years,  while  the  max- 
imum service  of  the  Hebrew-born  was  only  six.  There- 
fore I  urge  that  a  proclamation  so  high  sounding  and  in 
terms  so  absolutely  universal  can  not  have  left  out  the 
great  majority  of  bondmen  in  the  land. 

The  opponents  of  this  view  rely  upon  the  Avords  (v. 
40) — "They  shall   be  your  bondmen  forever" — which 


302  THE    JUBILEE. 

they  claim  must  mean  during  life. But  it  may  be 

replied — One.  human  life  is  very  much  short  of  forever. 
Also,  if  the  statute  had  meant  during  life,  why  did  it 

not  say  so? Again;  the  order  of  the  Hebrew  words 

favors  this  construction :  "  Forever  of  them  shall  ye 
take  servants" — or  somewhat  more  literally:  Forever 
among  them  shall  ye  serve  yourselves,  i.  e.  provide  j^our- 
selves  with  servants.  And  this  construction  harmonizes 
fully  with  the  drift  of  the  context,  the  spirit  of  which 
is — Go  to  the  heathen  about  you,  or  to  heathen  families 
living  among  you  for  your  supply  of  bond-servants.  Let 
this  be  the  permanent  arrangement. 

The  English  phrase — "  bond-servant  "  may  perhaps 
give  a  stronger  sense  than  the  Hebrew  will  warrant. 
The  Hebrew  suggests  no  sort  of  "bond" — no  obligation 
of  law  or  justice.  It  expresses  a  certain  degree  of  em- 
phasis by  means  of  rei^eating  the  words  for  service  and 
servant,  in  this  way:  (v.  39),  If  thy  brother  with  thee 
shall  become  weak  "  [broken  down  financially],  and 
shall  sell  himself  to  thee,  thou  shalt  not  exact  of  him 
the  service  of  a  servant,  [or  serve  thyself  in  him  with 
the  service  of  a  servant]."  This  is  all  that  "  bond-ser- 
vant "  can  mean.  It  is  a  somewhat  intensified  idea  of 
service. Another  prohibition  in  this  passage  is  suf- 
ficiently explicit :  "  Thou  shalt  not  rule  over  him  with 
rigor ^^  (vs.  43,  46),  i.  e.  literally,  with  crushing;  shalt 
not  break  him  down ;  or  in  the  American  slave-holder's 
phrase  "  break  him  in." 

The  case  of  foreign  servants  demands  yet  a  few  more 
words  of  explication.  It  can  not  be  denied  that  the 
spirit  of  the  Hebrew  law  favored  the  choice  of  foreign- 
ers for  servants,  and  the  increase  of  this  class  of  popu- 
lation. This  is  plainly  the  doctrine  of  the  passage  Lev. 
25 :  44-46. In  connection  with  this  we  may  profita- 
bly study  the  law  of  the  Passover  in  its  relation  to 
servants  (Ex.  12:  43-49).  "There  shall  no  stranger 
eat  thereof,  but  every  man's  servant  that  is  bought  for 
money,  ivhen  thou  had  circumcised  him,  then  shall  he  eat 
thereof." That  this  law  contemplated  Gentile  serv- 
ants is  clear  on  two  grounds: (a.)  Onl}'  such  would 

need  circumcision — all  Hebrews  being  circumcised 
when  eight  days  old. (b.)  The  law  (Lev.  25  :  44)  re- 
quired them  to  take  their  servants  from  the  heathen, 


SERVANTS    OF    FOREIGN    BIRTH.  303 

and  authorized  them  to  "buy"  such.  The  buying  of  a 
Hebrew  servant  was  a  very  different  thing.  The  poor 
Hebrew  sold  himself — i.  e.  his  services,  and  took  pay  in  ad- 
vance of  doing  the  work.  Selling  himself  is  precisely 
the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  in  Lev.  25 :  39,  47,  though  in 
the  former  case  (v.  39)  our  translators  made  it  "  be 
sold  "  and  in  the  latter  "  sell  himself"     The  Hebrew 

verb  is  equally  reflexive  in  both  verses. Moreover, 

no  man  might  steal  a  Hebrew  and  sell  him  on  pain  of 
death.  It  does  not  appear  that  Hebrew  fathers  sold 
their  sons.  When  they  took  pay  for  a  daughter,  it 
came  under  the  usage  of  paying  for  wives.  She  was 
betrothed  to  her  purchaser  (Ex.  21 :  7-11)  and  of  course 
had  the  rights  of  a  wife.  Hence  this  "buying  a  serv- 
ant for  money"  (Ex.  12:  44)  contemplates  a  foreigner. 

The  law  proceeds  to  say — "A  foreigner  (one  not  a 

servant)   and  a  hired  servant  shall  not  eat  thereof." 

Furthermore,  circumcision  was  naturalization;  it 

brought  the  servant  within  the  pale  of  the  Hebrew 
community.  For  this  law  of  the  Passover  declares  that 
"when  a  stranger  sojourning  with  thee,  i.  e.  in  thy 
land,  desires  to  keep  the  Passover  to  the  Lord,  let  all 
his  males  be  circumcised,  and  then  let  him  come  near 
and  keep  it ;  and  he  shall  he  as  one  that  is  born  in  the 
land;"  i.  e.  his  circumcision  is  equivalent  in  force  to 
being  born  in  the  land;  it  secures  his  naturalization. 
Hence  the  buying  of  foreign  servants  would  be  a  per- 
petual process  of  naturalizing  them,  and  bringing  them 
into  the  Hebrew  community.  They  came  to  the  Pass- 
over and  were  entitled  to  all  the  religious  privileges  of 
the  children  of  Israel.  Abraham  himself  circumcised, 
not  his  sons  alone,  but  "all  that  were  born  in  his  house 
or  bought  with  money  of  the  stranger"  (Gen.  17:  23, 
27). Thus  the  system  reached  forth  its  arms,  gath- 
ered to  its  genial  bosom  and  blest  with  religious  nur- 
ture thousands  of  alien  birth,  some  of  whom  attained 
renown  among  the  servants  of  the  God  of  Israel.  We 
have  the  history  of  Rahab  and  Ruth,  and  to  name  no 
more  of  "Uriah  the  Llittite,"  and  of  "  Ittai  the  Gittite" 
[ofGath]. 

14 


304  JUDICIAL   PROCEDURE. 


VIII.  Judicial  Procedure. 

Under  this  general  head  the  following  topics  should 
receive  attention. 

1.  Judges.  The  reorganization  suggested  by  Jethro 
has  been  noticed,  and  also  its  further  modification  to 

adjust  it  to  the  fixed  residence  in  Canaan. Between 

Joshua  and  Saul,  there  was  an  irregular  series  of  Su- 
preme Judges,  closing  with  Samuel  of  wdiose  circuit 
court,  taking  four  cities  in  rotation,  Ave  have  a  notice  in 
1  Sam.  7 :  15-17.  The  kings  manifestly  held  this 
function  of  Supreme  Judge.  In  the  absence  of  other 
Judges,  the  High  Priest  seems  to  have  served  ex- 
ofhcio.  His  powers,  under  the  *' Judges"  above  re- 
ferred to  and  the  kings,  are  not  sharply  defined;  but 
probably  religious  and  semi-religious  questions  came 
before  him  and  his  associates.     The  Judges   between 

Joshua  and  Samuel  were  military  men. A  special 

reorganization  of  the  judiciary  under  Jehoshaphat  (2 
Chron.  19:  5-11)  will  repay  a  careful  reading.  It  pro- 
vides subordinate  judges  in  all  the  fortified  cities ;  sol- 
emnly admonishes  them  to  administer  justice  in  the 
fear  of  God;  establishes  a  supreme  court  in  Jerusalem, 
where  "  he  set  of  the  Levites,  priests,  and  chief  of  the 
fathers  of  Israel  for  the  judgment  of  the  Lord  and  for 
controversies  when  they  returned  to  Jerusalem  " — the 
last  clause  apparently  referring  to  cases  carried  up  for 

decision    before    this   supreme   court. It   should  be 

noted  that  we  read  nothing  of  cases  taken  up  to  a 
higher  court  by  appeal  of  a  dissatisfied  party ;  but  only 
as  carried  up  by  the  lower  court  itself  when  the  case 
seemed  too  hard  or  too  high  for  its  decision.  This  prin- 
ciple went  into  operation  in  the  reorganization  by 
Moses  (Ex.  18 :  22,  26  and  Deut.  1 :  17)—"  The  cause 
that  is  too  hard  for  j^ou,  bring  it  to  me  and  I  will  hear 
it."  It  passed  into  the  general  law  as  we  may  see 
(Deut.  17 :  8-13)  which  provides  for  a  supreme  court  at 
the  religious  center,  the  judges  being  "  the  priests,  the 
Levites,  and  the  judges  that  shall  be  in  those  daj^s." 

The  warnings  against  partiality  and  bribery  were 
earnest  and  solemn — the  penalty  for  these  offenses  being 
left,  it  would  seem,  to  be  visited  upon  the  offender  bv 
the  Almighty  (Ex.  23':  6-8,  and  Lev.  19:  15,  and  Deut. 


JUDICIAL   rnOCEDURE.  305 

1 :  17,  and  16:  18-20).  They  were  not  even  allowed  to 
favor  the  poor  man  in  his  cause  against  justice  (Ex.  23 : 
3  and  Lev.  19 :  15) — there  being  sometimes  a  tempta- 
tion to  do  this  out  of  sympathy  Avith  his  poverty  and 
his  necessities.  But  God  put  justice  in  law  above  sym- 
pathy  for   even    the   necessitous   poor. The   public 

anathema  fell  on  him  who  took  a  bribe  to  slay  the  in- 
nocent (Deut  27 :  25). 

2.  The  seat  of  justice — the  place  for  holding  court — 
was  "  in  the  gates  of  the  city."  Hence  this  being  with 
all  Orientals  the  place  of  public  resort,  the  courts  were 
public — open  to  all. 

3.  The  processes  of  prosecution  are  not  speciall}'  de- 
scribed. In  cases  of  a  personal,  private  character,  the 
aggrieved  party  brought  suit.  In  cases  of  a  public  na- 
ture "  the  elders  of  the  cit}' "  bore  responsibilities,  as  we 
see  in  the  case  of  murder  by  an  unknown  hand.  A 
remarkable  case  of  appeal  to  the  sensibilities  of  the 
whole  nation  is  given  Judg.  19  :  25-30,  under  which  the 
people  woke  to  a  consciousness  of  horrible  wickedness 
in  Israel,  and  their  indignation  became  irrepressible ; 
yet  they  carefully  sought  counsel  of  the  Lord  in  this 
terrible  case. 

4.  Advocates.  We  find  no  notice  of  professional  advo- 
cates. The  "lawyers"  of  New  Testament  history  were 
men  versed  in  the  law  and  were  teachers  of  law,  but 
not  by  any  means  the  modern  advocate.  Every  man 
might  be  his  own  advocate,  and  even  women  Avere 
heard  before  no  less  a  king  than  Solomon  himself  (1 
Kings  3 :  16-18).  Noble-hearted,  disinterested  men 
seem  in  Oriental  life  to  have  undertaken  this  service 
voluntarily  for  the  poor  and  the  fatherless,  of  Avhich 
Job  gives  a  touching  description  (Job  29 :  7-17). 
Isaiah  exhorts  to  this  duty  :  "Plead  for  the  widoAV  "  (I : 
17).  It  was  the  noble  doctrine  of  this  system — "Our 
laAv  judges  no  man  before  it  hears  him  and  knoAvs  what 
lie  doeth"  (Jn.  7:  51).  Moses  puts  it  thus — "Ye  shall 
hear  the  small  as  Avell  as  the  great "  (Deut.  1 :  17).  "If 
there  arise  a  matter  in  judgment  between  blood  and 
blood,  bcticeen  plea  and  plea,"  etc.  (Deut.  17:  8). 

5.  Of  M  itnesses — the  points  of  chief  importance  are 
these  : 

(1.)  They  testified  under  oath — tlie  maunev  of  achuin- 
istration   lj(;in<j;  this:   The   witness  listened    to  the   re- 


306  PUNISHMENTS. 

hearsal  of  the  words,  and  gave  his  oral  assent,  "Amen," 
or,  "As  thou  sayest."  The  passage  (Lev.  5:1)  describes 
the  case  of  one  who  sins  in  this  way,  hearing  the 
voice — i.  e.  the  words  of  the  sacred  oath,  adjuring  him 
to  testify  whether  he  has  seen  or  known  any  thing  in 
this  case.     Then  if  he  will  not  make  known,  "  he  shall 

bear  his  iniquity." A  special  statute  for  the  case  of 

a  wife  suspected  of  conjugal  infidelity  shows  how  she  is 
to  be  put  under  this  solemn  oath  (Num.  5 :  19-22). 
She  listens  to  the  words  of  the  oath  and  responds, 
"Amen,  amen."  (See  also  Prov.  29 :  24  and  Mat. 
26:63). 

(2.)  That  the  witnesses  were  examined  separately 
and  in  presence  of  the  accused  appears  probable  from  a 
comparison  of  Mat.  26  :  61  with  Mk.  14 :  55-59.  Jesus 
was  present  (Mat.  26:  62). 

(3.)  As  to  the  requisite  number  of  witnesses — a  crim- 
inal case  of  capital  crime  required  two  besides  the  ac- 
cuser (Deut.  17  :  6  and  19  :  15).  Hence  the  phrase — "  In 
the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  shall  every  word 

be  established"  (Mat.  18:  16). A  supposed  case  is 

stated  (Ex.  22;  10,  11)  in  which  the  complainant  and 
the  accused  are  the  only  witnesses.  Both  are  put  under 
oath ;  but  the  testimony  of  the  accused  under  oath  seems 
to  be  accepted  as  his  vindication. 

(4.)  By  another  peculiar  provision  of  the  Mosaic  stat- 
utes, the  witnesses  in  certain  cases  must  be  first  to  ex- 
ecute the  penalty  (Deut.  17 :  7,  and  13 :  9,  and  Acts  7  : 
58,  and  John  8  :  7).  This  provision  was  doubtless  mor- 
ally wholesome. 

IX.  Punishments. 

A  few  points  not  already  brought  to  view  deserve  a 
brief  notice. 

1.  Fines. — Some  were  fixed  by  statute.  The  highest 
known  to  the  law  (one  hundred  shekels  of  silver)  was 
laid  on  the  man  who  falsely  accused  his  wife  of  previous 
unchastity  (Deut.  22  :  19).  Another  case  among  viola- 
tions of  the  seventh  commandment  appears  (Deut.  22  : 

28,  29). In  the  case  of  an  ox  goring  some  one  fatally, 

the  penalty  of  death  upon  his  owner  might  be  commu- 
ted to  a  fine  at  the  discretion  of  the  judges  (Ex.  21 :  28- 
31) — a  wise  provision  because  the  real  culi^ibility  of  his 


PUNISHMENTS.  307 

owner  must  vary  with  circumstances.  In  another  case 
(Ex.  21 :  22),  the  suffering  party  and  the  judge  fixed 
the  amount  of  the  fine. 

2.  The  sin  and  the  trespass  offerings  sustained  a 
slight  relation  to  fines,  since  the  party  bore  the  cost 
of  the  animal  sacrificed — a  young  bullock,  a  kid  of  goats, 
etc.  These  laAvs  may  be  seen  in  Lev.  4  and  5  and  in 
Num.  15  :  27-29.  They  pertain  to  sins  of  ignorance  and 
of  remissness;  never  to  presumptuous  sins.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  cost  of  the  sacrifice  the  penalty  included  a 
iniblic  confession  of  the  offense,  and  was  well  adapted 
to  make  a  good  moral  impression. 

The  special  cases  which  come  under  this  general  head 

of  sin  and  trespass  offerings  were (1.)  Unintentional 

transgressions  of  the  Levitical  law. (2.)    The  rash 

oath,  ill-considered  and  not  conscientiously  kej^t  (Lev. 

5:   4). (3.)  Perjury  in  a  witness ;— not  however  the 

case  of  false  swearing  to  condemn  the  innocent,  which 
was  punished  by  retaliation  ;  but  the  offense  of  not  tes- 
tifying what  he  knew  Avlicn  put  under  oath  (Lev.  5  : 

1).' (4.)  Debts  due  to  the  sanctuary — a  failure  to  pay 

tithes ;  the  penalty  being,  one-fifth  added  to  the  original 
amount  and  all  paid,  coupled  with  the  trespass  ofi'ering 

(Lev.  5 :  14-16). (5.)  Denying  any  thing  given  in 

trust,  or  retaining  another  man's  lost  property  Avhich 
he  may  have  found,  and  similar  offenses,  coupled  Avitli 
false  swearing  (Lev.  6 :  1-7) ;  the  penalty  being,  to  re- 
store  with   one-fifth  added  and  to  make  his  trespass 

ofiering. (6.)  Adultery  with  a  slave.     The  penalty — 

a  sin-offering  and  the  punishment  of  death  commuted 
to  stripes. 

3.  Stripes  were  made  the  penalty  of  certain  specified 
crimes  (Lev.  19  :  20  and  Deut.  22 :  18).  The  law  was 
careful  to  limit  the  number  of  stripes  to  forty,  giving 
as  the  reason — "Lest  if  thou  shouldest  exceed"  [this 
number]  "then  thy  brother  should  seem  vile  unto 
thee  ;  "  i.  e.  not  merely  lest  the  man  might  lose  his  self- 
respect,  but  lest  he  lose  the  respect  of  the  community, 
and  be  hopelessly  degraded.  In  usage  the  Hebrews 
limited  the  number  to  thirty-nine — said  to  have  been 
administered  by  thirteen  strokes  of  a  triple  cord. 

4.  Of  retaliation  ["lex  talionis"]  notice  has  been 
taken  already. 


BOS  DESIGN   OF    PUNISHMENT. 

5.  Excommunication  ;  excision ;  being  cut  off  from  his 
people.  When  executed  by  God  himself,  it  meant  de- 
struction by  some   providential  agency.      Compare    1 

Kings  14:  10  with  15:  29  and  2  Kings  9;  8-10. 

When  executed  by  human  agency,  it  was  capital  pun- 
ishment, usually  by  stoning  (Ex.  31  :  14,  and  Lev.  17  :  ■ 
4,  and  20 :  17,  18). 

6.  The  customary  modes  of  capital  punishment  were 
two :  stoning  and  the  sword.  (Deiit.  13 :  9,  10,  and 
17 :  5,  and  josh.  7  :  25.)  The  sword  appears  in  later 
ages. 

7.  Disgrace  after  death  in  some  cases  heightened  the 
penalty,  e.  g.  by  burning  the  dead  body  (Gen.  38 :  24,  and 
Lev.  20:  14,  and  21 :  9).  That  in  these  cases  the  death 
was  by  stoning  and  the  burning  was  only  that  of  the 
dead  body,  seems  to  be  sufficiently  proved  from  Josh.  7  : 
15,  25.  "All  Israel  stoned  him"  [x\chan  and  his  fam- 
ily] "with  stones  and  burned  them  with  fire  after  they 
had  stoned  them  with  stones."     Their  very  bodies  seem 

to  have  been  thought  of  as  polluted  and  polluting. 

Another  method  of  posthumous  disgrace  was  by  hang- 
ing on  a  tree  (Num.  25  :  4,  5  and  Deut.  21 :  22,  23).  The 
body  must  not  remain  suspended  over  night  "  that  thy 
land  be  not  defiled;  for  he  that  is  hanged  is  accursed 
of  God."  See  cases  of  the  execution  of  this  law  in  Josh. 
8:  29  and  10:  26,27. 

Several  forms  of  punishment  were  introduced  from 
other  nations  in  later  ages  which  we  may  omit  as  for- 
eign from  our  subject. 

In  closing  this  topic  let  it  be  noted  that  judicial  pro- 
cedure and  punishment  were  summary — both  the  trial 
and  the  execution  being  carried  through  with  appar- 
ently no  delay.  Compared  on  these  points  with  the 
most  highly  civilized  countries  of  our  age,  the  Hebrews 
have  greatly  the  advantage,  and  the  efficiency  of  their 
law  must  have  been  for  this  very  reason  surpassingly 
great.  Their  methods  afforded  but  the  smallest  possi- 
ble hope  of  escape.  Punishment  followed  close  on  the 
heels  of  detection,  and  usually,  we  must  presume,  of 

crime. Furthermore,  these  punishments,  compared 

with  those  of  other  nations  in  that  age  were  by  no 
means  severe.  Indeed  the  modes  of  capital  punishment 
which  come  to  view  in  the  Scriptures  as  existing  among 
other  nations,  were  terriljly  barbarous  comj)ared  with 


STATUTES   WITHOUT   PENALTIES.  309 

those  of  the  Hebrew  code ;  e.  g.  burning  in  a  fiery  fur- 
nace ;  being  torn  in  pieces  by  lions ;  being  sawn  asunder; 
crucifixion. 

The  design  of  punishment  is  put  in  the  plainest  terms. 
In  its  severer  forms  it  is  not  the  discipline  of  the  crim- 
inal but  the  good  of  the  public — to  deter  the  evil-minded 
from  crime  and  so  to  make  society  safe  from  outrage. 
In  the  case  of  presumptuous  sins  we  read — "  That  man 
shall  die,  and  thou  shalt  put  away  the  evil  from  Israel, 
and  all  the  people  shall  hear  anel  fear  and  do  no  more 
presumptuously"  (Deut.  17:  12,  13  and  19:  20). 

It  is  worthy  of  special  notice  under  this  head  that  we 
find  in  this  code  a  considerable  number  of  statutes  vith 
no  pcnaltij  attached  v/hich.  human  hands  were  to  inllict. 
God  reserved  the  infliction  of  the  penalty  to  himself. 
The  fear  of  his  displeasure,  coupled  with  his  promised 
rewards  for  obedience  were  the  only  forces  coercing 
obedience  to  these  statutes.  They  were  left  upon  the 
conscience  of  the  people,  and  upon  their  fears  and  hopes 
under  a  system  in  which  God's  hand  in  iDrovidence  Avas 
often  made  most  palpable.  For  cases  in  point  I  may 
refer  to  the  laws  against  usury  and  requiring  favors  to 
be  shown  to  the  poor; — as  for  example  (Deut.  15:  9, 
10) :  "  Beware  that  there  be  not  a  thought  in  thy  wicked 
heart,  saying — The  seventh  year,  the  year  of  release  is 
at  hand,  and  thine  eye  be  evil  against  thy  j^oor  brother 
and  thou  givest  him  naught,  and  he  cry  unto  the  Lord 
against  thee  and  it  be  sin  upon  thee.  Thou  shalt 
surely  give  him,  and  thine  heart  shall  not  be  grieved 
when  thou  givest  unto  him ;  because  that  for  this  thing 
the  Lord  thy  God  will  bless  thee  in  all  thy  works,"  etc^ 

The  moral  power  of  this  invisible  force  upon  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  people  we  shall  be  able  to 
appreciate  more  justly  if  we  carefully  studv  the  words 
which  stand  (Ex,  23 :  20-25),  i.  e.  at  the  close  of  the 
first  catalogue  of  the  "statutes  and  judgments."  It 
seems  to  come  in  here  legitimately  as  a  moral  force  to 
induce  a  conscientious  and  careful  obedience  to  these 
statutes.  "  Behold"  (calling  special  attention)  "  behold, 
I  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee  in  the  way, 
and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I  have  prepared. 
Beware  of  him,  and  obey  his  voice ;  provoke  him  not, 
for  he  will  not  pardon  your  transgressions,  for  my  name 
is  in  him.     But  if  thou  shalt  indeed  obev  his  voice  and 


310  STATUTES   WITHOUT   PENALTIES. 

do  all  that  I  speak,  then  I  will  be  an  enemy  to  thine 
enemies,"  etc. This  angel,  bearing  authority  to  par- 
don or  not  pardon  sins,  and  of  Avhom  the  very  God  could 
say — "  My  name  is  in  him"  could  be  no  less  than  really 
divine.  Name  in  Hebrew  usage  as  applied  to  God  in- 
volves and  implies  his  real  nature — his  essential  at- 
tributes. Corresponding  to  this  view  of  "the  angel "  in 
this  passage  is  the  injunction  to  "beware  of  him  and 
to  obey  his  voice" ;  and  also  his  power  to  forgive  sins — 
for  who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only"  ?  This  passage 
therefore  affords  decisive  proof  that  the  personage  who 
manifested  himself  to  Israel  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and 
of  fire ;  whose  presence  abode  in  their  tabernacle ;  whose 
voice  they  heard  in  this  holy  law — was  truly  divine,  and 
yet  was  mysteriously  distinct  from  the  speaker — the  "I" 
— of  this  remarkable  passage.  Truly  he  was  God,  mani- 
fest—if not  precisely  in  human  flesh — yet  in  palpable 
forms,  in  tangible  demonstrations,  in  voice  of  power 
and  tongue  of  flame ;  in  the  luminous  pillar ;  in  per- 
petual agencies  of  protection  and  of  supply  as  to  earthly 
need;  and,  not  least,  as  their  Ruler  and  their  Lord 
whose  voice  in  these  statutes  it  behooved  them  to  hear 
and  obey  as  they  would  hope  to  be  blessed  in  their  na- 
tional life  and  in  any  desirable  prosperity.  Hence  it 
was  both  practicable  and  wise  under  this  Hebrew  sys- 
tem to  leave  some  statutes  upon  the  naked  conscience 
of  the  people  with  no  attempt  to  enforce  obedience  save 
the  appeal  to  this  invisible  Presence. 

These  remarks  will  naturally  suggest  to  the  thought- 
ful mind  a  train  of  inquiries  of  this  sort : How  can 

we  account  for  it  that  the  books  of  Moses  allude  so  very 
rarely  to  the  future  state  of  man's  being — to  heaven 
and  to  hell?  Had  even  the  best  men  of  those  times 
any  definite  belief  in  the  future  life  and  in  its  retri- 
bution for  deeds  done  in  this?  How  happens  it  that 
both  the  law  and  the  rewards  or  penalties  of  their 
civil  code,  and  indeed  of  their  religious  code  as  well, 
make  so  much  account  of  present  retribution  and  so 
little  of  the  future? 

These  points  will  be  treated  more  conveniently  and 
in  a  more  satisfactory  manner  after  the  religious  code 
shall  have  been  examined  and  after  we  have  surveyed 
the  history  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness — i.  e.  at  the 
close  of  the  present  volume. 


THE    HEBREW    CODE    AND   EGYPT.  311 

There  are  two  historic  questions  pertaining  to  this 
civil  code  of  the  Hebrews  which  have  sufficient  inter- 
est to  justify  a  few  moments'  attention ;  viz. 

I.  How  far  was  this  system  indebted  to  Egypt  f 

II.  How  far  have  the  best  civil  codes  of  the  most  civilized 
nations  of  all  subsequent  history  been  indebted  to  this  Hebrew 
code? 

I.  As  to  the  possible  relations  of  this  Hebrew  code 
to  Egyptian  life  and  jurisprudence,  perhaps  the  word 
"indebted"  is  too  strong.  It  is  by  no  means  intended 
to  disparage  the  divine  originality  of  this  law  or  of 
any  and  every  feature  of  the  system.      I  assume  two 

things: (1.)  That  Moses,  "learned  in  all  the  wisdom 

of  the  Egyptians,"  may  have  had  intimate  personal 
acquaintance  with  very  many  things  in  civil  jurispru- 
dence which  the  Lord  taught  him  in  and  through  his 
Egyptian  life  rather  than  Ijy  immediate  and  independ- 
ent revelation: and  (2.)  That    the    people  became 

familiar  with  some  valuable  usages  and  customs  con- 
nected with  Egyptian  law  and  Egyptian  life,  and  by 
this  means  were  prepared  to  receive  and  adopt  them 
under  this  new  code  and  in  this  new  stjde  of  life  in 
Canaan,  when,  without  this  previous  culture,  these 
laws  and  usage  could  not  have  gone  into  operation  so 
readily  if  at  all. 

The  Hebrew  code  and  its  S3^stem  of  jurisprudence — 
as  also  the  entire  Hebrew  national  life — were  bene- 
fited by  the  Egyptian  in  the  following  points : 

1.  The  example  and  silent  influence  of  a  full  civil, 
written  code  of  law.  That  Egypt  had  such  a  code  ad- 
mits of  no  question.  The  Hebrew  patriarchs,  prior  to 
the  sojourn  in  Egvpt,  had  nothing  of  the  sort.  Their 
life  in  Egypt  therefore  gave  them  their  first  lessons — 
their  first  ideas,  of  a  complete  code  of  written  law. 
We  shall  be  in  small  danger  of  over-estimating  the 
value  of  these  lessons  and  ideas  in  their  bearings  upon 
a  higher  civilization. 

2.  Egypt  gave  to  the  Hebrew  mind  the  example  of  a 
well  digested  system  of  judicial  procedure,  established 
3ourts  and  forms  of  trial ;  laws  put  in  force  by  the  aid 
of  judges,  witnesses,  and  the  systematic  execution  of 

pc-nalties. Remarkably  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 

has  brought  to  light  documentary  evidence  of  a  judicial 
trial  in  Egypt  as  far  back  as  the  age  of  Moses,  develop- 


312  THE   HEBREW    CODE   AND    EGYPT. 

ing  the  most  finished  method;  well  digested  forms  of 
procedure ;  a  state  trial,  conducted  with  great  dignity 
and  decorum ;  and  the  whole  proceeding  put  on  record 
so  carefully  that  this  original  document  is  before  the 
world  in  perfect  joreservation  at  this  da5^* 

3.  Egypt  gave  to  the  children  of  Israel  the  example 
of  a  national  life  based  on  agriculture,  as  distinct  from  and 
indeed  opposed  to  the  wandering,  unsettled  life  of  the 
shepherd.  The  nomadic  mode  of  life,  perpetuated  by 
necessity  to  this  day  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  in  which 
individual  right  to  the  soil  is  unknown  and  no  family 
has  a  fixed  home,  each  living  for  the  time  where  its 
flocks  may  chance  to  find  herbage  and  water — this  had 
been  the  style  of  the  patriarchs  before  Jacob  Avent  to 
Egypt.  It  was  not  the  best  for  social  and  mental 
culture.  God  had  a  better  life  for  his  people  pros- 
pectively in  Canaan,  and  their  residence  in  Egypt  in- 
troduced them  to  it  and  gave  them  a  preparation  for  it. 
It  made  subsistence  less  precarious ;  blended  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil  with  the  care  of  flocks  and  herds; 
provided  for  a  denser  population;  greatly  enhanced  the 
opportunities  for  social  culture  and  for  such  a  religious 
sj^stem  as  that  of  Israel.  '  In  a  word  it  provided  for  a 
much  higher  Christian  civilization  than  could  have 
been  possible  under  the  strictly  nomadic  mode  of  life. 
To  Egypt,  the  nation  was  indebted  for  the  example 
and  for  the  training  into  this  agricultural  mode  of 
life. 

4.  In  another  important  respect,  the  example  of  the 
national  life  of  Egypt  was  a  preordained  training  for 
their  own  national  life  in  Canaan  : — it  was  that  of  a 
people  providing  for  their  own  wants;  living  within 
themselves;  maintaining  substantially  non-intercourse 
with  other  nations,  and  for  the  most  part  excluding 
foreign  commerce.  Such  was  Egypt  during  the  resi- 
dence of  Israel  there,  and  such  God  wisely  designed  Is- 
rael to  be  in  her  promised  land  of  Canaan.  As  to  Israel 
in  Canaan,  the  purposes  of  this  policy  are  obvious — 
protection  from  the  contaminating  influences  of  idol- 


*See  a  "State  trial  in  ancient  Egypt,"  fully  reported  in  Bib. 
Pncra,  .Julv,  18(39,  p.  577.  Tiiis  is  written  in  the  hieratic  text;  is 
kno-\\  11  as  "  The  .Indieial  Papyrus  "  ;  is  now  in  the  museum  of  Turin 
and  is  presumed  to  be  the  oliiclal  record. 


THE    HEBREW    CODE  AND  EGYPT.  813 

atry,  not  to  say  also  from  the  contaminations  of  luxury 
and  wealth. 

5.  In  Eg3^pt,  the  priests  were  the  learned  class  of  the 
empire,  and  held  the  highest  responsibilities  in  the 
civil  and  judicial  as  well  as  the  religious  life  of  the  na- 
tion. A  S3'stem  essentially  the  same  was  introduced 
into  Israel,  the  priests  and  the  Levites  holding  the 
same  place  in  the  nation  which  they  had  seen  held  by 
the  priests  in  Egypt. 

6.  It  is  a  very  noticeable  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
legal  life  in  Egypt,  that  though  magic  arts  were  in 
a  sense  tolerated  and  indeed  were  resorted  to  by  the 
king  in  his  emergencies,  yet  their  influence  in  society' 
proved  to  be  so  pernicious  as  to  demand  legal  restraint. 
We  have  the  record  of  a  man  indicted  "for  many  crimes 
and  wickednesses  committed  through  his  magic  arts 
and  writings,  such  as  paralyzing  limbs,  empowering  a 
slave  to  do  audacious  things,"  etc.  The  decision  of  the 
court  in  his  case  reads — "For  his  various  abominations, 
the  greatest  in  the  world,  he  is  condemned  to  death." 

-It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Mosaic  law  held 

all  practice  of  magic  arts  to  be  a  penal  offense,  punisha- 
ble with  death  (Ex.  22  :  IS  and  Lev.  20 :  27)._ 

7.  In  some  points  the  spirit  of  the  Mosaic  code  was 
so  greatly  in  advance  of  the  Egyptian  as  to  stand  re- 
lated to  it,  not  in  the  way  of  imitation  or  even  modifi- 
cation, but  of  direct  opposition.  It  held  squarely  the 
opposite  doctrine  and  put  forth  statutes  of  an  opposite 
character.  Thus,  the  Egyptian  code  legalized  shivery, 
and  had  its  special  law  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitives. 
Among  the  recent  discoveries  in  Egyptian  antiquities 
"A  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  fugitive  slaves"  has  been 
brought  to  light.  From  the  tone  of  this  warrant  and 
from  other  evidence,  collateral,  it  is  inferred  that  slave- 
holders were  obliged  b}''  law  to  register  them  in  a  list 
kept  by  government  and  disputes  with  regard  to  own- 
ership must  be  brought  before  the  judges.  The  rights 
of  the  master  in  his  slave  were  not  absolute.  It  was 
not  by  virtue  of  orders  direct  from  the  owner  that 
search  was  instituted  and  arrest  made,  but  by  the  au- 
thority of  a  high  functionary  of  government,  to  whom 
the  case  is  reported  and  who  issues  his  mandate.  Thus 
the  government  itself  put  forth  its  hand  to  recover  a 
slave   who  had   escaped  from   any   citizen. It   was 


314  MOSES ;    AND   LATER   JURISPRUDENCE. 

therefore  specially  pertinent  that  the  law  of  Jehovah 
to  Israel  should  plant  itself  on  ground  precisely  the  re- 
verse of  this : — no  reclamation  of  fugitives  whatsoever. 
Thou  shalt  not  do  what  Egyptian  slave-holders  were  au- 
thorized by  the  highest  authority  of  the  kingdom  to 
do — force  back  the  escaped  fugitive  to  his  unendurable 
bondage. 

In  the  line  of  their  religious  institutions  Israel  stood 
related  to  Egypt  in  numerous  particulars,  borrowing 
some  things  for  the  adornment  of  its  tabernacle  from 
Egyptian  art ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  guarding  by 
stringent  prohibitions  against  many  Egyptian  usages 
associated  with  idolatry.  These  points  will  be  in  place 
after  we  have  considered  the  religious  institutions  of 
Moses. 

II.  The  second  proposed  historic  question,  viz.  How 
far  have  the  best  civil  codes  of  all  history  and  how  far 
has  the  Avorld  at  large  been  indebted  to  this  Hebrew 
code  ? — opens  a  field  of  inquiry  quite  too  wide  to  be  fully 
canvassed  within  our  prescribed  limits.  A  few  hints 
may  be  useful  perhaps  to  guide  the  further  inquiries 
of  the  reader.  The  following  points  are  put  compre- 
hensively and  suggestively: 

1.  Moses  sought  to  impress  it  upon  his  people  that 
this   system   far  surjiassed  that  of  any  other  nation. 

■"  Behold,  I  have  taught  you  statutes  and  judgments, 
even  as  the  Lord  my  God  commanded  me.  .  .  .  Keep, 
therefore,  and  do  them,  for  tliis  is  your  wisdom  and  un- 
derstanding in  the  sight  of  all  the  nations  who  shall 
hear  of  all  these  statutes  and  shall  say,  Surely  this  na- 
tion is  a  wise  and  understanding  people,  for  what  great 
nation  hath  their  God  so  nigh  to  them  as  the  Lord  our 
God  is  to  us  in  all  that  we  call  upon  him  for?  And 
what  great  nation  hath  statutes  and  judgments  so 
righteous  as  all  this  law  which  I  set  before  you  this 
day"?  (Deut.  4:  5-8.) 

2.  The  Hebrew  system  surpassed  all  others,  especially 
in  this — that  it  gave  to  human  government  and  law  the 
mnction  of  GocVs  authority,  and  enforced  them  upon  the 
human  heart  and  conscience  by  this  most  imjDressive 
and  benign  of  all  intiuences. 

3.  Preparatory  to  this  result  it  maintained  against 
the  whole  Pagan  world  the  doctrine  of  one  (rod— perfect 
in  character,  supreme  in  power,  righteous  in  all- his  ad- 


MOSES ;     AND   LATER   JURISPRUDENCE.  315 

ministration  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Only  so 
could  it  make  tlie  idea  of  God  a  really  wholesome  power 
and  his  authority  effective  in  sustaining  civil  govern- 
ment. 

4.  This  divinely  given  code  rested  upon  justice  and 
equity,  and  determined  every  thing  by  this  standard. 
So  doing,  it  ruled  out  at  once  a  multitude  of  interests 
and  ends  which  human  laws  have  often  sought  to  secure. 
Its  example  tliercfore,  in  so  far  at  least,  M'as  simply  and 
supremely  beneficent. 

5.  In  yet  further  detail,  it  recognized  the  common  and 
equal  rights  of  all  men,  irrespective  of  condition,  rank, 
wealth— holding  constantly  the  doctrine,  ^'No  7-cspect  of 
persons  J' 

6.  It  appreciated  at  their  just  value  the  rights  of  tlie 
poor  and  of  all  that  large  class  who  look  only  to  God 
and  to  human  law  for  protection. 

We  come  now  to  the  question  of  historic  fact :  Did 
this  Hebrew  code  and  government  send  forth  its  influence  upon 
the  nations  of  ancient  history  f  Did  it  in  any  perceptible 
degree  leaven  the  best  systems  of  human  law  and  juris- 
prudence.  If  the  proof  for  the  aflirmative  falls  short 

of  positive  certainty,  what  is  its  amount  of  iDrobability  ? 

Here  we  may  fitly  consider — 

(a.)  That  God  chose  for  Israel  the  land  of  Canaan,  in 
the  center  of  the  ancient  world  of  mind;  immediately 
between  Egypt  on  the  one  hand  and  Babylon,  Assyria, 
Persia — all  the  great  nations  of  Western  Asia — on  the 
other;  and  closely  contiguous  to  ancient  Greece  and 
Rome. 

(b.)  That  David  and  Solomon  became  known  to  all 
the  great  i^owers  of  the  world  of  their  time.  Solomon's 
renown  turned  largely  on  the  fact  that  his  people  Avere 
prosperous  and  happy,  his  government  well  ordered, 
and  his  own  Avisdom  in  all  affairs  of  state  unsurpassed. 

It  is  simply  impossible  that  such  examples  should 

drop  powerless  upon  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

(c.)  That  at  a  later  period  the  personal  history  of 
Mordecai,  of  Esther,  and  especially  of  Daniel  in  the 
courts  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  of  Cyrus  show  that  the 
Jews,  their  religion,  their  God,  and  their  law,  did  im- 
press themselves  upon  the  greatest  centers  of  influence 
and  power  in  their  time. 

(d.)  This  dispersion  of  the  Jews  at  and  after  their 


316  MOSES ;   AND   LATER   JURISPRUDENCE. 

captivity  planted  them  in  large  numbers  in  the  chief 
seats  of  human  science  and  learning;  in  Egypt  on  the 
South-West ;  in  Babylon,  Persia,  and  adjacent  countries 
of  the  East.  It  is  historically  certain  that  in  the  age 
of  the  Ptolemies,  a  large  body  of  learned  Jews  lived  in 
Egypt;  that  the  Old  Testament  was  translated  into 
Greek  by  request  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus;  that  the 
Egypt  of  that  age  was  the  school  of  wisdom  and  juris- 
prudence for  Ancient  Greece  and  was  herself  the  pupil 

of  Moses.* That  the  best  Greek  authors  knew  Moses 

is  matter  of  history.  Longinus  quotes  from  Moses 
(Gen.  1 :  3)  in  his  treatise  on  Sublimity;  Strabo  makes 
honorable  mention  of  him  as  a  law-giver ;  and  Diodorus 
Siculus  acknowledges  him  to  be  "  the  first  of  legisla- 
tors from  whom  all  laws  had  their  origin."  Numenius 
a  Greek  philosopher  of  the  Pythagorean  school,  speak- 
ing of  Plato,  exclaims — "What  is  Plato  but  Moses  Atti- 
cising  " — i.  e.  teaching  in  Attic  Greek  ?  Origen  believed 
that  Plato  drew  largely  from  Moses. The  list  of  em- 
inent Grecian  authors  and  savans  who  went  personally 
to  Egypt  for  wisdom  and  science  is  long — such  as  Thales, 
Anaximander,  Anaxagoras,  Pythagoras,  Plato,  Herodo- 
tus. There  they  came  into  contact  with  learned  Jews 
and  not  improbably  with  the  writings  of  Moses.f  Prof. 
Wines  (p.  335)  cites  the  learned  Grotius  as  saying — 
"  The  most  ancient  Attic  laws,  whence  in  aftertimes  the 
Roman  were  derived,  owe  their  origin  to  Moses'  law. 
That  the  Grecians,  especially  the  Attics,  took  their  laws 
from  Moses  is  credible.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
Attic  laws  and  the  Roman  twelve  Tables  which  sprang 

from  them  so  much  resemble  the  Hebrew  laws." 

This  similarity  between  the  Attic  laws  and  those  of 
Moses  has  been  noticed  bj^many  other  learned  men,  e.  g. 
Josej^hus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Augustine,  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  Archbishop  Potter.  The  last  named  in 
his  "  Grecian  Antiquities  "  has  adduced  many  points  of 

*  Of  Ptolemy  Pliiladelphus  Prof.  Wines  says — "lie  was  deliglited 
with  tlie  laws  of  Moses;  pronounced  his  legislation  wonderful;  was 
astonished  at  tlie  depth  of  his  wisdom,  and  professed  to  have  learned 
from  him  the  true  science  of  government." — Wines'  Commentaries. 
See  also  Josephus  against  Apion,  p.  308. 

t  Prof.  Wines'  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  the  Ancient  He- 
brews, pp.  312-388,  a  work  which  elaborates  its  theme  very  fully, 
substantiating  its  points  by  copious  authorities. 


MOSES ;    AND   LATER   JURISPRUDENCE.  317 

Grecian  law  "whicli  seem  to  have  been  taken  from  Moses — 
viz.  the  laws  of  divorce;  the  purgation  oath  compared 
with  "the  oath  of  jealousy"  among  the  Hebrews;  the 
harvest  and  vintage  festival ;  the  law  of  first-fruits ;  the 
law  requiring  the  best  oflerings  for  God ;  the  portion 
for  the  priests;  protection  to  tlie  man-slayer  at  their 
altars;  requiring  priests  to  be  unblemislied;  the  agra- 
rian law  ;  laws  regulating  descent  of  property,  and  pro- 
hibiting marriage  witliin  certain  degrees  of  consan- 
guinity.  Phxto  in  his  ideal  "Republic"  is  thought  to 

have  drawn  largely  from  Moses. Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria accosts  liira  (by  Apostrophe) — "But  as  for  laAvs, 
whatever  are  true  were  conveyed  to  tliee  from  tlie  He- 
brews." 

These  historic  facts  seem  to  indicate  the  definite 
channel  tlirougli  wliicli  the  laws  of  Moses  reached  tlie 
Grecian  mind  in  its  earliest  stages  of  culture  and  thus 
Avrouglit  themselves  into  tlie  great  fountains  of  Grecian 
and  Roman  civilization  and  jurisi^rudence. 

(e.)  There  seem  to  be  strong  grounds  for  the  gen- 
eral statement  that  the  greatest  reformers  of  all  known 
history  have  acted  upon  the  ideas  of  Moses,  and  have 
probably  drawn  their  doctrines  more  or  less  directly 
from  that  fountain.  I  will  venture  to  place  in  this 
category  Zoroaster,  Plato,  Confucius,  Buddha,  and  Ma- 
homet. These  men  were  in  their  time  reformers  of 
society,  of  morals,  and  of  jurisprudence.  Their  influ- 
ence led  toioard  if  not  fully  unto  the  doctrine  of  one  God, 
and  by  natural  consequence,  to  a  purer  morality  and 
juster  views  of  law  and  equity ;  of  love  to  one's  neigh- 
bor and  purity  of  life. 1  regret  that  my  limits  for- 
bid any  attempt  to  present  the  historic  evidence 
which  might  support  more  or  less  fully  these  broad, 
comprehensive  statements.  The  historic  evidence  that 
Zoroaster,  Plato,  and  Mahomet  drew  from  Moses  is  very 
strong.  Of  the  great  Indian  reformer  and  of  the  Chi- 
nese comparatively  little  is  known. 

(f.)  Of  Roman  law  as  finally  embodied  in  the  great 
code  of  Justinian,  it  has  been  already  suggested  that 
its  best  things  came  from   Moses  and  the  Septuagint 

through  Greece  and  the  Egypt  of  the  Ptolemies. 1 

add  two  other  remarks: — (a)  That  in  the  age  of  Jus- 
tinian (first  half  of  the  sixth  Cliristian  century)  primi- 
tive Christianity  had  (juite  fully  leavened  the  public 


318  MOSES   AND   LATER   JURISPRUDENCE. 

sentiment  and  thus  the  jurisprudence  of  the  then  civ- 
ilized world. (b.)  That   when   Justinian   created  a 

commission  of  learned  jurists  to  "collect  the  scattered 
monuments  of  ancient  jurisprudence,"  he  recommended 
them  in  settling  any  point  to  regard  neither  the  num- 
ber nor  the  reputation  of  the  jurisconsults  who  had 
given  opinions  on  the  subject,  but  to  be  guided  solely 
by  reason  and  equity.* 

(g.)  Of  Alfred  the  Great  (reigned  A.  D.  871-901)  the 
central  testimony  of  history  is  that  he  was  severely 
just.  Despite  of  surroundings  almost  barbarous,  he  rose 
by  dint  of  his  irrepressible  manliness  to  become  the 
greatest  legislator  and  scholar  of  his  age,  and  so  was 
able  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  best  and  truest 
glory  of  the  English  name.  The  common  law  of  Eng- 
land and  of  the  English-speaking  world  began  its  de- 
velopment under  his  hand.  One  fact  is  of  itself  a  vol- 
ume of  testimony  to  the  spirit  of  this  ancient  law. 
When  after  a  long  struggle  Wilberforce  brought  the 
question  before  the  English  bench— Does  English  law 
sanction  human  bondage?  the  world  heard  the  an- 
swer— Never.  "  Slaves  can  not  breathe  in  England." 
What  moment  they  take  in  her  pure  air,  they  are  free! 
The  spirit  of  her  law  from  the  days  of  Alfred  was 
justice  and  righteousness  between  a  man  and  his  neigh- 
bor. The  laws  of  Moses  were  in  Alfred's  eye;  the 
spirit  of  those  laws  filled  and  fired  his  noble  soul.  It  is 
currently  said  that  the  telling  Avords  which  describe 
the  needy  as  "  GocVs  poor""  are  original  (for  our  mother 
Saxon  tongue)  with  him.      Moses  had  reiterated   the 

sentiment  long  ages  before. "Sir  Matthew  Hale  has 

traced  the  influence  of  the  Bible  generally  on  the  la-vvs 
of  England.  Sismondi  testifies  that  Alfred,  in  causing 
a  republication  of  the  Saxon  laws,  inserted  several  stat- 
utes taken  from  the  code  of  Moses,  to  give  new  strength 
and  cogency  to  the  principles  of  morality. 

"Thus  have  the  j^rinciples  of  the  Mosaic  code  found 
their  way  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  into  the  jurispru- 
dence of  all  civilized  nations."     [Wines — p.  337.] 

*  Taylor's  Manual  of  Histoiy,  p.  335.  Moses  and  the  Lord  speak- 
ing tlirougli  him  (Dent.  1:  1(>,  17  and  16:  18-20)  had  announced 
this  doctrine  more  than  two  thousand  years  before.  It  is  fair  to 
presume  that  the  earlier  promulgation  had  sent  its  influence  down 
the  ages  to  Justinian's  time. 


TROGRESSIVE  REVELATIONS  OF  GOD.  319 

It  falls  within  our  plan  to  speak  briefly  of  the  civil 
code  of  Moses  as  a  series  of  jvogressive  revelations  of  God  to 
man. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  law  of  Sinai  as  a  manifestation 
of  God  to  man  at  once  sublime  in  its  majesty  and  most 
benignly  practical  in  its  moral  bearings.  The  civil 
code — "  the  statutes  and  judgments  " — carry  out  yet 
more  fully  the  practical  unfoldings  of  God's  wisdom 
and  of  his  sense  of  justice  and  right  as  between  man 
and  man.  It  is  not  easy  to  select  the  most  striking 
cases  to  illustrate  this  point,  for  the  whole  code  is 
radiant  with  divine  wisdom  and  aglow  with  testi- 
monies of  his  love,  manifesting  itself  in  wisest  legis- 
lation for  human  welfire. Confining  our  attention 

to  the  second  table  of  the  law  of  Sinai — man's  relation 
to  his  fellow-man — we  may  consider  how  much  there 
is  here  adapted  to  conserve  all  the  best  elements  of 
society — in  securing  the  honor  due-  to  parents  and 
rulers;  in  guarding  human  life  and  providing  the 
means  for  its  protection ;  in  making  the  marriage  cove- 
nant sacred;  on  the  one  hand  shielding  the  sexual 
relation  of  the  race  against  abuses  most  pernicious; 
and  on  the  other,  providing  agencies  which  may  enrich 
man's  social  life  with  priceless  blessings.  So  also  tlie 
statutes  in  detail  respecting  rights  of  property  and 
rights  of  reputation  are  replete  with  fresh  testimonies 

to  the  wisdom  and  the  love  of  the  Great  Father. 

Speaking  frankly  of  the  impressions  made  on  my  mind 
by  this  study  of  the  code  of  Moses,  I  must  say  that  no 
part  has  seemed  to  me  more  deeply  imbued  with  the 
tenderness  and  pity  of  the  Lord  than  the  provisions 
made  for  the  poor,  and  the  restrictions  and  limitations 
upon  personal  servitude.  In  all  his  utterances  on  these 
points  the  Lord  assumes  that  no  interests  of  man  more 
need  his  protection  than  these,  and  he  comes  promptly 
to  the  front  to  give  it.  He  would  have  us  know  that 
over  these  interests  his  watchful  eye  never  sleeps;  his 
quick  ear  is  never  shut  to  any  cry  for  help.  The  rich 
and  the  iiiighty  may  get  on  without  his  special  aid ; 
the  poor  are  his  own  wards  and  shall  never  lack  his 
sympathy  nor  his  present  hand.  Human  laws  are  in 
great  part  worthless — at  least  they  miss  their  most  im- 
portant  function unless  they  make    it   their   chief 

endeavor  to  protect  the   interests  and  rights  of  those 


320  PROGRESSIVE    REVELATIONS   OF   GOD. 

who,  powerless  in  themselves,  drop  upon  the  strong  arm 
of  law  for  their  defence.  Society  and  legislation  might 
as  well  not  be  as  to  forget  that  they  exist  as  appointed 
of  God  mainly  for  the  sake  of  the  poor  and  the  other- 
wise unprotected  and  unbefriended.  Such  needy  ones 
every  human  society  will  have  for  the  moral  trial  of 
those  who  control  society,  and  I  may  add,  to  draw  out 
the  sympathy  of  the  Great  Father. 

These  revelations  of  himself  stand  forth  in  sunlight 
throughout  this  Mosaic  code.  They  are  a  glorious  ad- 
vance upon  all  that  the  world  had  seen  before.  The 
true  mission  of  civil  law  is  brought  out  here  with  great 
fullness ;  for  it  seems  to  be  every-where  assumed  that  if 
laws  protect  and  befriend  the  poor,  they  protect  and  be- 
friend all.  If  the  spirit  of  law  faithfully  guards  their 
interests,  it  can  not  well  fail  to  guard  all  interests  that 
need  the  guardianship  of  human  legislation.  It  is  a 
priceless  boon  to  the  race  to  have  these  ideas  so  beauti- 
fully set  forth  and  so  substantially  embodied  in  a  code 
of  laws  fresh  from  the  hand  and  from  the  heart  of  the 
Infinite  Father. 


CHAPTER   XIX 


THE  RELIGIOUS  SYSTEM  OF  THE  HEBEEWS. 

Tins  system  contemplates  as  its  ultimate  end  the 
ohedience,  homage,  and  worship  due  from  men  to  God. 
As  a  prime  means  toward  this  end,  it  prescribes  modes 
and  forms  of  worship.  It  proposes  to  bring  God  near 
to  men  and  men  near  to  God;  and  for  this  purpose 
would  cultivate  in  men  the  spirit  of  penitence  and  of 
faith — impressing  them  with  a  sense  of  their  sins  and 
suggesting  to  them  how  sin  may  be  forgiven ;  and  how, 
on  the  basis  of  God's  own  provision  for  pardon,  he  can 

accept  the  humble,  reverent  worship  of  his  people. 

These  fundamental  ideas  respecting  the  sinner's  ac- 
ceptance with  God,  the  system  now  before  us  sought 
especially  to  develop  by  means  of  visible  symbols — 
these  symbols  constituting  the  very  elaborate  and  mi- 
nutely described  religious  system  of  the  Hebreics. This 

system,  having  long  since  "waxed  old  and  vanished 
away  "  is  no  longer  in  practice,  and  therefore  can  not 
be  useful  as  a  rule  of  present  duty,  but  is  useful  for  the 
light  it  throws  on  the  great  and  fundamental  ques- 
tions— How  shall  man — a  sinner— become  just  before 
God?  Is  an  atonement  necessarj^?  What  are  the 
fundamental  ideas  of  "  atonement "  ?  How  were  they 
developed  in  the  Mosaic  system,  and  what  light  docs  this 
development  bring  to  the  atonement  presented  to  view 
in  the  New  Testament? 

With  superlative  wisdom  God  began  to  give  lessons 
on  this  great  subject  very  early  in  the  history  of  our 
race.  It  was  wise  to  give  such  lessons  long  and  care- 
fully before  the  Great  Atoning  Sacrifice  came  in  human 
flesh.  It  was  also  wise  to  give  them  largely  by  visible 
illustrations— by  the  aid  of  a  system  having  so  much 
of  tlie  external  and  the  visible  that  minds  not  dis- 
ciplined to  abstract  thought  might  see  the  truth  and 
feel  its  power  by  means  of  sensible  manifestations. 

The  reader  will  now  see  readily  the  purpose  of  the 
ensuing  examination  of  this  religious  system.  It  is  not 
for  historic  curiosity— in  which  case  we  might  select 

(321) 


322  CLASSIFICATION   OF    SACRIFICES. 

points  amusing  or  strange  or  sensational;  it  is  not  to 
guide  the  worshiper  (as  Moses  sought  to  do)  in  the 
minutest  details  of  the  system  that  he  might  make  no 
mistake  in  obeying  it : — but  it  is  to  gather  as  best  we 
may  its  designed  moral  impression,  to  study  its  under- 
lying assumptions,  and  evolve  its  true  doctrine  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  question  of  the  sinner's  accejitance  be- 
fore a  holy  and  righteous  God. 

Briefly  and  comprehensively  we  may  classify  the 
leading  features  of  this  system  viewed  externally,  on 
this  wise : 

I.  Its  prescribed  sacrifices  and  offerings. 

II.  Its  stated  times  and  seasons  of  worship. 

III.  Its  sacred  edifices  and  apparatus  for  worsldp). 

IV.  The  religious  ordc's — classes  designated  for  sacred 
service. 

I.  The  sacrifices  and  offerings  of  this  system  may  be 

classified  variously : e.  g.  (1.)  Bloody,  or  not  bloody: — 

terms  which  will  be  readily  understood.  The  former 
were  slain  animals,  a  portion  of  whose  blood  was 
sprinkled.     The  latter  included  offerings  of  flour,  oil, 

wine,  etc.- Or   (2.)   Some  were   specially  required: 

others    were    voluntary  or   free-will    offerings. (3.) 

They  may  be  classified  with  reference  to  the  times  and 
seasons  when  they  Avere  to  be  made ;  some  being  daily, 
as  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice ;  others  for  the 
Sabbath ;  others  for  the  new  moons ;  others  on  occasion 
of  the  three  great  yearly  festivals;  and,  among  the 
most  useful  for  its  suggestive  import,  those  of  the  great 

day  of  atonement. (4.)  Or  we  might  classify  them 

under  the  somewhat  distinctive  names  given  them  in 
the  law,  of  which  we  find  a  large  number.  We  have 
(a.)  The  generic  word  sacrifice  [Heb.  Zebah] — a  word 

which  implies   slaying,  taking   life : (b.)   Another 

quite  generic  term,  "  offering,"  which  is  used  to  trans- 
late several  Hebrew  words,  and  of  course  with  very 
considerable  latitude  of  meaning : (c.)  "  Burnt-offer- 
ing"— [which  is  the  quite  constant  translation  of  the 
Heb.  "Olah"]  signifying  what  goes  vp  upon  the  altar 
and  is  consumed  there.  The  phrase  "  whole  burnt-of- 
fering" gives  according  to  the  Hebrew,  the  sense  of 
completeness — the  whole  of  the  animal  being  burned  on 
the  altar: (d.)  '"Sin-offering" — in  Hebrew,  one  of 


CHOICE   OF   ANIMALS    FOR   SACRIFICE.  323 

tlie  most  common  words  for  sin — [hatta].  Paul's  use  of 
the  corresponding  Greek  word  (2  Cor.  5:  21)  follows 
this  usage  of  the  word  for  sin  :  "  God  hath  made  him  to 
be  sin"  [a  sin-offering]  "for  us  who  knew  no  sin,"  etc. : 

(e.)  "  Trespass  offering  "  ; — which  is  another  of  the 

Hebrew    words    for    sin,    offense    ["  asham "] : (f.) 

"  Meat-offering  " ;  some  variety  of  food  or  drink  other 

than    flesh  : (g.)     "  Peace-offering  " — which     seems 

closely  related  to  the  "thank-offering,"  being  an  ex- 
pression of  gratitude  to  God ;  the  animal  sacrificed 
being  in  large  part  eaten  socially  by  the  offerer  and 
his  friends;  also  by  the  poor,  the  widow,  servants,  etc.: 

(h.)  Wave  and  heave  offerings — terms  which  refer 

to  ceremonies  of  elevating  or  waving  certain  parts  of 
the  sacrifice. 

(5.)  A  much  more  important  distinction  in  the  Mo- 
saic sacrifices  lies  between  those  which  were  expiatory 
and  those  which  were  not  specially  so,  the  former  class 
being  slain  animals  whose  fat  at  least  was  burned  on 
the  altar  and  Avhose  blood  was  sprinkled  in  specified 
and  various  ways ;  the  latter  class  having  somewhat  va- 
rious objects,  but  chiefly  that  of  expressing  gratitude 
for  blessings  or  joy  in  the  God  of  their  salvation. 

Two  other  points  in  respect  to  sacrifices  are  of  im- 
portance, viz — 

(a.)   The  choice  of  animals  to  be  slain  in  sacrifice. 

(b.)  The  killing  itself,  coupled  with  the  use  made  of 
the  blood,  of  the  fat,  and  in  some  cases  of  the  flesh — 
with  the  attendant  ceremonies. 

(a.)  It  should  be  carefully  noted  that  animals  for  sac- 
rifice were  not  taken  up  at  random.  It  was  not  merely 
life  and  blood  that  were  sought.  They  were  not  the 
wild,  but  the  tame,  domesticated ;  not  the  savage,  flesh- 
eating  animals,  but  the  docile,  grass-eating;  not  an- 
imals mostly  or  altogether  useless  to  man,  but  pre- 
cisely those  which  were  most  useful ;  not  animals  of  the 
sort  nobody  loves  or  cares  for,  but  those  most  loved 
and  cared  for,  between  whom  and  the  human  family 
there  often  arises  a  special  intimacy  and  affection.  In 
a  word  they  were  the  representatives  of  utility,  do- 
cility, and  innocence.  The  ox,  patient  of  toil,  in  his 
early  years  invaluable  for  food;  the  goat,  useful  for 
flesh  and  milk;  the  hunb— the  s^anbol  of  affection,  at- 


324  THE   SCENES   OF   SACEIFICE. 

tachment,  innocence : — these  three  classes  of  animals 
formed  the  staple  material  for  bloody  sacrifice.  [Of 
birds,  the  turtle-dove  and  young  pigeon,  being  less  ex- 
pensive, were  permitted  to  the  poor.  As  naturally  rep- 
resenting innocence  and  loveliness,  they  are  quite  of 

the  same  class]. It  sometimes   escapes  notice  that 

the  Orientals  brought  these  animals  much  nearer  to 
their  hearts  and  homes  than  our  Western  notions  and 
habits  know  of.  We  forget  that  not  infrequently  to 
this  day  they  live  under  the  same  roof  along  with  sons 
and  daughters.  The  prophet  Nathan  in  that  touching 
verse  about  the  "one  little  ewe  lamb"  (2  Sam,  12:  3) 
drew  not  from  his  imagination  but  from  Oriental  life. 
"  The  poor  man  had  nothing  save  one  little  ewe  lamb 
which  he  had  bought  and  nourished  up,  and  it  grew  up 
together  with  him  and  Avith  his  children :  it  did  eat  of 
his  own  meat"  [food]  "and  drank  from  his  own  cup 
and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was  to  him  as  his  daughter." 
Moreover,  the  Hebrew  might  not  select  for  sacri- 
fice the  deformed,  the  torn,  the  lame,  the  sickly;  but 
evermore,  the  unblemished,  the  perfect — those  specially 
lovable  and  choice  pets  around  which  the  hearts  of  the 
household,  young  and  old,  were  wont  to  cling :  of  these 
must  the  worshiper  take  for  the  altar. 

Let  us  think  of  the  scene  at  that  altar  of  sacrifice. 
The  place  is  in  the  front  court  of  the  tabernacle,  whose 
inner  sanctuary  was  made  glorious  wath  the  visible 
presence  of  -Jehovah.  The  one  all-engrossing  thought  as- 
sociated Avith  this  sacred  spot,  was — God  is  here.  I  go 
up  to  meet  God.  Before  his  face  I  bring  this  prescribed 
offering.  It  is  one  of  my  sweet  lambs  of  the  flock,  or 
as  the  case  may  be,  a  young  bullock  of  one  or  two  years 
old.  I  know  that  the  animal  must  die  there.  Either 
in  my  own  person  or  through  the  priest,  acting  in  my 
behalf,  I  am  to  lay  my  hand  on  the  head  of  the  victim 
and  thus  confess  my  sin.  From  that  moment  the  in- 
nocent lamb  takes  my  place  and  stands  before  the  exe- 
cutioner, as  if  guilty  of  capital  crime.  The  sight  and 
the  smell  of  blood ;  the  struggle  and  the  recoil ;  the  out- 
cry of  horror — the  only  awful,  horrible  sound  uttered  by 
these  animals — go  to  make  up  a  scene  Avhich,  once  Avit- 
nessed,  can  never  be  forgotten.  We  of  this  age  might 
see  it  in  some  of  its  aspects  if  Ave  Avould;  Ave  rarely  do. 
We  should  find  it,  not  in  our  Avorshiping  sanctuaries 


THE   SIGNIFICANCE    OF   SACRIFICE.  62iJ 

but  in  the  secluded  slaughter-house  whither  no  one  is 
ever  attracted — whither  none  ever  go  save  those  who 
must.  Think  of  the  blood,  the  death-groans,  the  strug- 
gle, the  whole  dying  scene.  Is  there  any  meaning  in 
it?  Is  there  any  thing  in  it  appropriate  to  the  sanc- 
tuary of  God  and  to  his  solemn  worship  ? 

The  transaction  is  by  no  means  so  mysterious  as  it 
might  be.  It  would  be  profoundly  mysterious  were  it 
not  that  man  is  a  sinner  before  the  holy  law  of  God — 
a  sinner  under  condemnation  of  death.  It  would  be  ut- 
terly inexplicable  if  there  were  not  in  nature,  in 
thought,  in  fact,  something  which  we  may  call  substi- 
tution, to  which  we  give  the  name  vicarious — some- 
thing which  involves,  not  indeed  an  entire  exchange 
of  one  personality  for  another,  but  something  which 
approximates  toward  it.  One  being  suffers  in  the  place 
and  stead  of  another.  An  innocent  being  steps  into 
the  place  of  a  guilty  one  and  takes  upon  himself  the 
guilty  man's  doom.  We  need  not  pause  here  to  hunt 
up  analogies  of  this  sort  in  human  life ;  suffice  it  that 
God  signifies  by  these  striking  symbols  that  he  has 
found  a  place  for  this  principle  in  his  great  scheme  for 
the  pardon  of  sinners  condemned  to  death  by  his  holy 
law,  and  that  he  saw  fit  to  fill  this  Hebrew  religious 
system  absolutely  full  of  illustrative  typical  represen- 
tations of  this  stupendous  fact.  The  elementary  facts 
in  this  system  of  sacrifices,  considered  as  illustrating 
the  scheme  of  pardon  are  few  and  simple ;  thus — 

(a).  Man  has  sinned  against  God  and  stands  con- 
demned by  his  law  to  eternal  death. 

(b).  God  loves  this  sinning  man  and  longs  to  save 

him — but  must  not  break  down  his  law. So  he  finds 

a  Lamb  for  a  sacrifice  whose  death  for  sinners  will  abun- 
dantly sustain  the  majesty  of  law,  and  proceeds  there- 
upon to  "  lay  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  This  done, 
it  only  remains  that  the  sinner  repent  of  his  sin,  and 
humbly,  thankfully  accept  the  death  of  this  Lamb  of 

sacrifice  in  place  of  his  own  eternal  death. These  few 

and  simple  elements  comprise  substantially  the  essence 
of  this  Avonderful  system. 

This  system  seeks  a  S3'mbolic  representation  in  these 
bloody  sacrifices.  The  ofi'erer  brings  forward  his  lamb 
of  the  flock ;  he  lays  his  hand  upon  that  innocent  head 
and  confesses  there  his  sin:  he  in  a  sort  transfers  his 


326  THE   PORTION    TAKEN   AS   FOOD. 

own  personality — or  more  precisely,  his  own  sin  and 
guilt,  to  that  animal  victim ;  he  stands  by  and  witnesses 
the  death-scene  with  a  deepened  sense  that  he  deserves 
a  death  far  worse  than  that  himself.  But  when  the 
fires  from  heaven  descend  and  consume  his  offering,  and 
he  finds  himself  not  only  spared  but  blessed  of  God  and 
bidden  to  go  in  peace,  he  gets  a  sense  unknown  before, 
of  the  peace  and  joy  of  pardoned  sin.  The  blood 
sprinkled  upon  and  around  the  altar  and  toward  the 
most  holy  place  and  upon  himself  becomes  a  memorial 
of  what  his  salvation  cost;  the  pardon  himself  receives 
testifies  how  much  it  is  worth,  "  speaking  better  things 
than  the  blood  of  Abel." 

If  any  special  argument  should  seem  called  for  to 
prove  that  this  is  the  true  significance  of  these  bloody 
sacrifices,  we  shall  come  to  it  with  better  preparation 
after  the  main  points  of  the  system  are  more  fully  before 
us. 

As  an  illustrative  system,  there  is  yet  one  other  point 
of  great  significance,  viz.  that  in  many  of  these  sacrifices 
a  portion  of  the  animal  was  eaten  by  the  ofierer  and  by  his 
family  and  friends.  This  great  amount  of  animal  flesh 
was  not  all  consumed  by  the  fires  of  the  altar.  Yet  we 
are  not  to  suppose  that  public  economy — the  saving  of 
so  much  valuable  human  food — was  the  prime  consider- 
ation. We  must  go  deeper  than  this.  Nor  was  it  that 
the  Lord  Avould  cultivate  the  social  nature  of  his  wor- 
shiping people,  and  therefore  provided  these  materials 
for  agreeable  social  feasting.  We  must  go  very  much 
deeper  than  even  this.  This  feasting  upon  the  flesh  of 
the  slain  animal  is  in  germ  what  the  gospel  gives  us 
in  full  development,  viz.  that  the  same  Lamb  of  Calvary 
who  "  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood  "  "  gave 
us  his  flesh  to  eat  "  as  "  the  bread  of  life."  The  memo- 
rial supper  carries  in  it  the  same  double  symbol — blood 
and  bread — the  blood  looking  toward  pardon ;  the  bread 
toward  sustenance  for  the  spiritual  life.  So  the  pious 
Israelite  might  on  the  one  hand  see  the  blood  of  his 
sacrifice  gurgling  forth,  caught,  sprinkled  toward  the 
mercy-seat  and  upon  his  own  person ;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  might  take  of  the  flesh  of  his  slain  lamb  and  sit 
down,  not  merely  in  peace  but  in  joyful  thanksgiving 
that  death  brings  life — that  sacrificial  blood  brings  after 
it  the  new  life  of  the  redeemed,  restored  sinner,  and  sus- 


SACRED  TIMES   AND   SEASONS.  327 

tenancc  therefor  from  the  very  animal  whose  body  and 
blood  became  S3^mbols  of  his  pardon. 

Besides  these  sacrifices  of  a  general  character,  the 
S3'stem  provided  others  of  a  special  and  personal  char- 
acter for  individuals  under  peculiar  circumstances,  e.  g. 
for  the  case  of  vows ;  of  purification  from  ceremonial 
uncleanness ;  for  the  restored  leper,  etc.  Of  these  I  need 
say  only  that  they  suggest  the  fitness  of  recognizing 
God's  hand  every-where,  in  all  possible  events  and  under 
all  the  various  dispensations  of  providence.  These 
events  are  never  barren  of  significance.  It  behooves  us 
to  study  their  meaning  and  adjust  ourselves  to  God's 
hand    with   resignation   and  with    gratitude — with    a 

sense  of  our  unworthiness  and  of  God's  great  mercy. 

The  detailed  methods  of  that  ancient  system  have  at 
this  day  no  vital  interest. 

Scarcely  of  the  nature  of  sacrifice,  yet  intensifying 
the  idea  of  ceremonial  uncleanness  was  the  burning  of 
the  "  red  heifer  " — the  gathering  up  of  her  ashes  and 
the  preparation  from  them  of  "  the  water  of  separa- 
tion " — a  purification  from  sin  in  the  ceremonial  sense. 
Num.  19  gives  the  details,  specifying  the  sorts  of  un- 
cleanness which  this  purifying  water  washed  away. 
The  writer  to  the  Hebrews  (9 :  13,  14)  gave  the  great 
moral  inference  thus :  "  For  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of 
goats  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean 
sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more 
shall  the  blood  of  Christ  who  through  the  eternal  Spirit 
offered  himself  unto  God,  purge  your  conscience  from 
dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God  "  ? 

II.  Stated  Times  and  Seasons  of  Worship. 

1.   The  Morning  and  Evening  Sacnfiee. 

Two  lambs  of  one  j'car  were  offered  every  day;  the 
one  in  the  morning  and  the  other  at  evening  [Heb. 
"between  the  evenings"];  burnt  ofi'erings,  consumed 
wholly  upoii  the  altar.  They  were  accompanied  with 
a  small  portion  of  flour,  oil,  and  wine.  This  was  a  pov- 
])('tual  ordinance,  never  to  be  omitted.  The  original 
institution  (Ex.  29:  3S-4G)  is  accompanied  with  God's 
very  gracious  promise  to  meet  with  his  people  and  dwell 
15 


328  THE   THREE   GREAT    FESTIVALS. 

among  them,  sanctifying  the  place  of  this  meeting  by 
his  glory.  Nothing  could  suggest  more  pertinently  and 
tenderly  that  God  loves  to  see  the  face  of  his  worship- 
ing people  and  to  meet  them  as  each  day  opens  in  the 
morni^ig  and  as  it  closes  Avitli  the  setting  sun.  Let  this 
communion  between  God  and  his  sons  and  daughters 

never  be  in  any  wise  interrupted. The  usage  seems 

to  have  led  pious  Jews  in  later  times  to  adopt  these 
hours  for  their  morning  and  evening  prayer,  as  we  may 
see  in  the  case  of  Daniel  (9:  21),  and  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament  history. The  ritual  for  these   sac-rifices    is 

given  in  detail  (Num.  28 :  3-8). 

2.    The  Sacrifices  for  the  Sabbath. 

Each  Sabbath  had  an  extra  service  in  addition  to  the 
continual  morning  and  evening  sacrifice — two  lambs  of 
the  first  year  without  spot ;  with  the  attendant  meat 
and  drink-offerings  (Num.  29 :  9,  10). 

3.  The  sacrifices  at  each  new  moon  were  on  a  larger  scale 
than  either  of  the  preceding,  viz.  two  young  bullocks, 
one  ram,  and  seven  lambs  for  the  burnt-ofifering ;  one 
kid  of  goats  for  the  sin-offering.  As  the  Hebrew  months 
were  lunar  (not  solar),  these  sacrifices  upon  the  appear- 
ance of  the  new  moon '  inaugurated  the  successive 
months.  It  was  probably  for  this  reason  that  they  wore 
announced  with  blowing  of  trumpets  (Num.  10 :  10). 
The  calendar  was  thus  regulated — a  matter  of  special 
importance,  since  it  fixed  the  time  of  tlicir  three  great 
religious  festivals  as  also  the  great  day  of  atonement. 

4.   The  Three  Great  Religious  Festivals. 

Of  these  the  first  in  order  (the  Passover)  has  been 
considered  already. 

The  next  in  order  of  time  was  the  Pentecost — otherwise 
called  "  the  feast  of  weeks,  of  the  first-fruits  of  wheat- 
harvest  "  (Ex.  34:  22) ;  "the  feast  of  harvest,  the  first- 
fruits  of  thy  labors  which  thou  hast  sown  in  the  field" 
(Ex.  23:  16);  also  "the  day  of  first-fruits"  (Num.  28: 
26).     The  other  passages  which  treat  of  it  are  Lev.  23 : 

15-21  and  Deut.  16  :  9-12) The  name  Pentecost  is  not 

from    the  Hebrew  but  from  the  Greek,   moaning  the 


THE    FEAST   OF   TABERNACLES.  329 

fiftieth   day,  i.   e.  after  the  great  Sabbath,  which  fell 

during  the  Passover  week  (Lev.  23  :  15,  16). On  the 

first  day  after  that  Sabbath,  the  first-fruits  of  their 
barley  harvest  were  brought  before  the  Lord.  From 
that  point  seven  full  weeks  were  numbered,  and  on  the 
fiftieth  day  the  feast  of  Pentecost  occurred. 

This  festival,  unlike  the  other  two  in  duration,  was 
of  one  day  only — at  least  this  is  plainly  assumed  :  "  In 
the  day  of  the  first-fruits"  (Num.  28 :  26),  also  in  Lev. 

23 :  2i,  only  one  day  is  spoken  of- It  was  sjiecially  a 

day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  first-fruits  of  the  wheat 
harvest.     Two  loaves  made  of  the  new  wheat  flour  were 

waved  before  the  Lord  on  this  hallowed  da3\ The 

reference  (in  Deut.  16:  10-12)  gives  prominence  to  the 
social  and  joyful  character  of  the  day.  "  Thou  shalt 
keep  the  feast  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  with  a  tribute  of 
a  free-will  offering  of  thy  hand  which  thou  shalt  give 
according  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  blessed  thee,  and 
thou  shalt  rejoice  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou  and 
tliy  son  and  thy  daughter,  and  thy  man-servant  and 
thy  maid-servant,  and  the  Levite  that  is  within  thy 
gates,  and  the  stranger,  the  fatherless  and  the  widow 
that  are  among  you." 

As  a  feast  of  joyful  thanksgiving  over  the  first-fruits 
of  their  principal  grain  harvest,  it  was  eminently  the 
appropriate  occasion  for  the  Pentecostal  scene  of  the 
first  great  Christian  ingathering.  How  suggestive  of 
tlie  gratitude  due  to  God  for  the  shedding  forth  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  the  glorious  fruitage  from  this  gospel 
power! 

Some  have  supposed  (not  without  reason)  that  the 
Hebrew  Pentecost  commemorated  the  completion  of 
the  giving  of  the  laws  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  Avhich 
they  suppose  was  brought  within  fifty  days  from  the 
first  Passover.  Of  this  however  the  books  of  Moses 
alHrm  nothing  explicitly. 

The  third  and  last  of  the  three  great  festivals  was 
"  the  Fead  nf  Tabernacles,^^  otlierwise  called  "  the  feast  of 
ingathering  at  the  end  of  the  year  when  thou  hast 
gatliered  in  thy  labors  out  of  the  field"  (Ex.  23 :  16). 

The  speciality  of  this  feast  was  the   dwelling  in 

booths  or  tabernacles,  made  of  "boughs  of  goodly  trees, 
branches  of  palm  trees  and  tlie  boughs  of  tliick  trees 
and  willows  of  the  brook"  (Lev.  23:  40).     This  feast 


330  THE   FEAST   OF   TABERNACLES. 

began  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  seventh  month  and 
continued  during  eight  days,  the  first  and  the  last  be- 
ing days  of  special  solemnity.  It  had  a  double  purpose, 
viz.  to  commemorate  the  forty  years  wandering  of  the 
fathers  in  the  Avilderness,  dwelling  in  tents;  and  to 
give  thanks  to  God  for  the  last  harvests  of  the  5^ear — 
the  fruits  of  the  olive  and  the  grape — last  in  order — 
l)eing  now  all  gathered  in. 

Thus  none  of  these  three  great  feasts  omitted  the 
element  of  thanksgiving  for  the  fruits  of  the  season, 
the  first  barley  sheaves  being  brought  with  grateful 
thanks  before  the  Lord  during  the  Passover ;  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  wheat  harvest  giving  a  special  thanksgiv- 
ing character  to  the  Feast  of  Pentecost ;  and  the  latest 
fruits,  the  olive  and  the  grape,  reminding  them  of  God's 
crowning  blessing  upon  the  labors  of  the  year  at  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles.  What  a  beautiful  training  into 
the  service  of  thanksgiving  for  the  fruits  of  the  earth! 

This  last  of  the  festivals  was  pre-eminently  one  of 
joj^ful  festivity,  and  of  loud  and  high  praises  to  the 
Lord,  their  Great  Benefactor.  .  The  Jews  have  a  saying 
— that  "whoever  has  not  seen  the  rejoicing  of  the  last 
great  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  has  never  seen 
a  day  of  joy  in  his  life." 

The  principal  passages  of  Moses  that  treat  of  it  are 
Ex.  23:  16,  and  34:  22,  and  Lev.  23:  34-43,  and  Num. 
29:  12-40,  and  Deut.  16:  13-15. 

The  celebration  of  this  feast  in  the  age  of  Nehemiah 
(8 :  14-18)  the  reader  should  not  fail  to  notice.  At 
this  time  the  law  was  read  daily  in  the  hearing  of  the 
people.  The  law  of  Moses  provided  for  this  public  read- 
ing on  each  seventh,  i.  e.  the  Sabbatic  year,  during  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  (Deut.  31 :  10-13). 

The  striking  allusion  (.Jn.  7 :  37)  to  the  scenes  on 
the  last  great  day  of  the  feast  will  be  readily  recalled. 
A  custom  unknown  to  the  law  of  Moses  had  then  come 
into  practice — that  of  going  in  vast  procession  to  the 
fountain  of  Siloam  for  water,  and  bearing  it  Avith  joy- 
ful acclaim  to  the  temple  to  pour  it  out  there  before 
the  Lord.  While  this  procession  was  passing,  Jesus 
lifted  up  his  voice  and  cried — "If  any  man  thirst, 
let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  May  we  sup- 
pose that  possibly  the  words  of  Isaiah  were  before  him  : 
—"Ho,  every  oire  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters" 


THE    FEAST   OF   TABERNACLES,  331 

—to  these  waters  of  life  which  I  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world ! 

Upon  these  three  great  festivals  all  the  males  of  Is- 
rael were  required  to  appear  before  the  Lord  at  the 
one  place  of  his  choice — the  tabernacle  or  the  temple 
— ultimately  in  Jerusalem  "whither  the  tribes  go  up." 
The  women  of  Israel  manifestly  went  when  they  chose 
and  could.  According  to  Oriental  usage  they  traveled 
in  groups — little  caravans — several  adjacent  families, 
or  as  the  case  might  be  by  households,  the  patriarch 
with  his  children  and  children's  children  together, 
moving  on  with  many  a  song  of  social  cheer  and  grate- 
ful praise  till  at  length  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  the 
hills  of  the  goodly  city.  The  so-called  "  songs  of  degrees" 
(Ps.  120-134) — more  strictly  songs  of  the  stages  or  up- 
goings — are  specimens  of  this  free  and  outflowing  wor- 
ship of  the  traveling  companies,  bound  upward  to 
Jerusalem.  The  allusion  in  Luke  2:  41-45,  is  pleasant 
to  think  of. 

We  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  Lord  relieved 
their  minds  of  all  fear  lest  their  defenseless  homes 
might  be  assailed  and  robbed  and  perhaps  their  wives 
and  little  ones  murdered  by  foreign  enemies  while  all 
their  able-bodied  men  were  away  from  their  homes  in 
Jerusalem.  "  Neither  shall  any  man  desire  thy  land 
when  thou  shalt  go  up  to  appear  before  the  Lord  thy 
God  thrice  in  the  year"  (Ex.  34:  24).  None  but  a.God 
of  universal  providence  and  omnipotent  resources  could 
safely  make  such  a  promise.  In  their  own  Jehovah 
they  might  safely  trust. 

Of  sacred  seasons,  the  most  peculiar  and  striking  yet 
remains  to  be  noticed,  viz.  the  great  day  of  atonement. 
This  was  one  day  only;  was  not  a  feast  day  but  a, fast — 
a  day  "  in  which  ye  shall  afflict  your  souls,^'  i.  e.  subject 
yourselves  to  the  discomforts  and  pains  of  entire  absti- 
nence from  food  for  the  whole  day,  "from  even  to 
even."  Whoever  would  not  afflict  his  soul  on  this  day 
must  be  "cut  ofi:'  from  his  people."  All  labor  was  for- 
bidden under  the  same  penalty.  The  passages  Lev.  23: 
26-32  and  Num.  29 :  7-11  give  these  general  features  of 
the  institution.  Only  in  Lev.  16  do  we  find  a  full  de- 
scription. In  this  chapter  it  appears  that  the  original 
appointment  of  this  day  stands  connected  with  the  sad 


332  THE   GREAT    DAY   OP    ATONEMENT. 

death  of  Nadab  and  Abilui,  the  two  eldest  sons  of  Aaron 
for  their  rash  unauthorized  offering  of  strange  fire  be- 
fore the  Lord  (Lev.  10:  1-8).  That  awful  scene  of 
death  suggested  the  great  necessity  of  ceremonial 
purity  in  the  priesthood  and  of  the  utmost  care  and 
self-control  when  they  came  before  God.  There  would 
be  sins  in  the  priesthood  and  sins  among  the  people  of 
which  they  might  not  be  aware :  hence  the  propriety 
of  one  comprehensive,  all-embracing  service  for  atone- 
ment. 

The  points  to  be  specially  noted  in  this  service  are — 
That  the  High  Priest  washed  himself  clean;  put  on 
white  linen  garments,  symbolic  of  purity,  and  then 
made  a  special  offering  for  his  own  sins  and  for  the  sin 
of  all  the  people.  The  latter  had  this  striking  peculi- 
arity— that  two  goats  Avere  taken  for  a  sin-offering, 
upon  whom  lots  were  cast  to  select  one  for  the  Lord 
and  one  for  Azazel  [Eng.  "  scape-goat "].  Another  still 
more  important  peculiarity  was  that  on  this  day  only 
(never  on  any  other)  the  High  Priest  went  alone  into 
the  most  holy  place,  bearing  both  the  blood  of  the  sin- 
offering  and  'incense.  First  he  bore  into  the  most  holy 
place  the  blood  of  a  bullock  as  a  sin-offering  for  himself, 
and  sprinkled  it  with  his  finger  upon  the  mercy-seat 
and  in  front  of  the  mercy-seat  seven  times.  He  also 
bore  a  censer  full  of  coals  "from  the  great  altar  and  upon 
it  burned  incense,  the  smoke  of  which  enshrouded  the 
mercy-seat.  Then  the  goat  upon  which  the  lot  fell  for 
the  Lord  was  slain,  and  the  High  Priest  bore  his  blood 
also  into  the  most  holy  place  and  sprinkled  it  there  to 
make  atonement  for  the  whole  people.  No  other  man 
save  the  High  Priest  might  go  in  at  any  time  on  pain 
of  death. 

The  other  goat,  called  in  our  English  version  "the 
scape-goat "  was  then  disposed  of  thus :  Aaron  "  laid 
both  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  this  goat  and  con- 
fessed over  him  all  the  iniquities  of  the  children  of 
Israel  and  all  their  transgressions  in  all  their  sins, 
putting  them  upon  the  head  nf  the  goat,  and  then  sent  him 
away  by  a  fit  man  into  the  wilderness— the  goat  bear- 
ing upoii  himself  all  their  iniquities  into  a  land  not  in- 
habited." He  was  then  set  at  liberty  in  the  wilder- 
ness (Lev.  IG:  20-22). The  precise  meaning  of  the 

word  Azazel  ["scape-goat"]  and  the  reason  for  using 


THE   GREAT   DAY   OF    ATONEMENT.  333 

this  name  have  been  much  disputed.  Our  English 
Bible  fails  to  give  a  satisfactory  translation  of  v.  8 
Avhere  by  a  most  obvious  antithesis  the  sacred  lot 
selects  one  of  the  two  goats  for  Jehovah  and  the  other 
for-  Azazel.  Was  it,  as  many  suppose,  for  Satan,  con- 
ceived of  as  "walking  through  those  dry  and  desolate 
places,  seeking  rest  but  finding  none  " — to  whom  this 
goat,  symbolically  bearing  the  sins  of  the  whole  people, 
is  sent?  If  so,  what  is  implied  and  signified  in  this 
sending  of  the  goat  to  him?  I  must  say  I  am  not  wise 
on  these  points.  If  any  ideas  were  current  in  that  age 
in  respect  to  Satan  which  might  illustrate  this  trans- 
action, they  have  not  come  down  to  us.  It  must  I 
tliink  suffice  for  us  to  see  in  these  two  goats  for  a  sin- 
offering  a  sort  of  double  figure  to  indicate  the  atone- 
ment— the  first  one  slain  in  the  usual  way  and  his 
blood  sprinkled  before  the  mercy-seat — a  solemn  wit- 
ness that  without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  can  be  no 
remission  of  sin :  the  other,  supplementing  the  great 
idea  of  atonement  by  a  most  vivid  rei:)resentation  of 
sins  borne  aivay — forever  away,  to  be  known  and  remem- 
bered no  more.  The  sins  of  the  whole  people  were 
transferred  to  the  head  of  this  second  goat;  he  takes 
them  away  into  the  unknown  desolate  wilderness, 
never  to  return.  Symbolically,  the  sins  are  gone  for- 
ever ! The  prophet  Micah  (7 :  19)  gives  a  turn   to 

the  same  thought  only  slightly  different — "  Thou  wilt 
cast  all  their  sins  into  the  depths  of  the  sea."  Jere- 
miah also  (31 :  34) — "  I  will  remember  their  sins  no 
more."  No  symbol  could  give  more  precisely,  more  un- 
equivocally, more  forcibly,  the  great  idea  of  Uilclng  aivny 
sins.  You  see  them  transferred  to  this  second  goat  by 
means  of  hands  imposed  and  formal  declaration,  "jnit- 
ting  them  [the  sins]  upon  the  head  of  the  goat "/  and  then 
he  is  driven  away,  bearing  his  burden  into  an  un- 
knov/n,  desolate  land,  never  to  be  heard  from  again ! 

The  sacrifice  of  the  first  goat  for  a  sin-ofiering  and 

the  sprinkling  of  his  blood  before  the  sacred  Presence 
of  Jehovah  had  the  usual  significance  of  an  innocent 
animal  substituted  for  the  guilty  sinner — the  former 
dying  that  the  latter  might  not  die — thus  showing  hoio 
God  could  safely  forgive  sin.  These  two  goats  therefore 
represent  respectively  the  two  great  ideas  which  make 
up  the  atonement^the  first  signifying  by  xchat  means 


334  SACRED   EDIFICES  AND   APPARATUS. 

God  can  testify  duly  against  sin  while  yet  he  forgives 
the  sinner;  and  the  second  certifying  that — the  inno- 
cent victim  having  been  substituted  for  the  sinner  and 
slain  in  his  stead — God  does  truly  take  sins  forever  aivay. 
In  briefest  phrase  these  coupled  ideas  stand  out  before 
us  in  the  New  Testament:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God 
who  tciketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  "  (John  1 :  29). 

III.  Sacred  Edifices  and  Apparatus. 

A  system  of  worship  which  included  altars  and  sacri- 
fices, and  much  more,  one  Avhich  had  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  and  the  visible  manifestation  of  Jehovah's 
presence,  demanded  an  edifice  for  its  center  and  home. 
It  was  essential  to  the  proper  reverence  that  this 
edifice  should  provide  a  place  of  seclusion  as  well  as  of 

safe-keeping  for  its  most  sacred  things. Moreover, 

so  long  as  the  people  were  unsettled — subject  to  re- 
moval any  day — this  structure  must  be  movable,  like 
the  tents  of  all  nomadic  people.  Hence  the  first 
structure  was  the  Tabernacle  or  Sacred  Tent. A  gen- 
eral idea  of  it  may  be  presented  to  the  reader  thus : — 
Conceive  of  an  inclosed  court,  one  hundred  cubits  long 
by  fifty  wide  [the  cubit  being  eighteen  inches];  this 
inclosure  being  made  by  hanging  curtains  of  linen  five 
cubits  high,  suspended  from  horizontal  rods  which 
Avere  supported  by  posts.  The  entrance  to  this  in- 
closure was  always  at  its  eastern  end,  and  the  eastern 
section,  forming  the  outer  or  first  court,  was  twenty 
cubits  in  depth,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  inclosed 

area  by  curtains. In  the  center  of  the  rear  portion 

stood  the  sacred  tent  proper,  thirty  cubits  in  length 
from  east  to  west,  and  ten  cubits  in  width.  This  also 
Avas  in  two  principal  apartments,  the  eastern  being 
twenty  cubits  by  ten,  known  as  "the  holy  place";  the 
Avestern,  "  the  most  holy  place,"  or  the  "  Holy  of  holies," 
being  ten  cubits  square.  The  perpendicular  AA^alls  of 
this  sacred  tent  Avere  of  boards  set  on  end,  ten  cubits 
high,  so  supported  as  to  be  readily  set  up,  taken  down, 
and  transported.  The  covering  AA'as  four-fold,  of  cloth 
and  skins,  and  Avas  manifestly  arranged  like  the  roof  of 
a  house,  the  covering  passing  over  a  ridge-pole  in  the 
center.     Such  briefly  was  this  sacred  structure.' 


SACRED    EDIFICES   AND   APPARATUS.  335 

Of  its  furniture,  the  important  articles  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

(a.)  In  the  open  court  in  front  of  the  tabernacle 
proper,  were  the  great  altar  of  burnt-offering  and  a  laver 
— an  immense  reservoir  or  tank  for  water,  (b.)  In  the 
holy  place — the  first  section  of  the  sacred  tent — stood  the 
altar  of  incense;  the  table  of  shew-bread;  and  the 
golden  candlestick. (c.)  In  the  most  holy  place,  en- 
shrouded in  the  thick  darkness,  stood  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  containing  originally  the  two  tables  of  stone 
on  which  the  ten  commandments  were  written,  the  pot 
of  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  budded.  Upon  the  lid 
of  this  ark,  known  as  "  the  mercy-seat,"  there  reposed 
the  refulgence  of  the  Divine  Presence — a  visible  bright- 
ness and  glory,  called  by  the  later  Jews  "the  shcchi- 
nah" — itself  overshadowed  by  the  wings  of  cherubic 
figures  which  rested  upon  either  end  of  the  ark.     • 

The  whole  structure  might  be  readily  taken  down 
and  transported  from  place  to  place  with  all  its  furni- 
ture ;  parties  being  designated  for  this  service. 

In  Num.  10:  35,  36  we  have  the  words  customarily 
used  by  Moses  as  a  form  of  prayer,  accompanying  the 
order  for  striking  and  pitching  tents:  "When  the  ark 
set  forward  Moses  said.  Rise  up.  Lord,  and  let  thine 
enemies  be  scattered,  and  let  those 'that  hate  thee  flee 
before  thee :  and  when  it  rested  he  said,  Return,  0 
Lord,  unto  the  ten  thousands  of  Israel." 

Of  the  temple  built  by  Solomon  I  need  not  say  more 
than  this — that  its  plan  was  essentially  that  of  the 
tabernacle,  differing  in  the  following  points :  Its  di- 
mensions were  twice  as  great;  and  it  was  built  for  a 
permanent,  immovable  edifice,  of  the  most  substantial 
and  costly  materials. 

IV.   The  Sacred  Orders. 

The  tribe  of  Levi  was  chosen  and  set  apart  for  the 
services  of  worship  and  of  religious  instruction.  Out 
of  this  tribe  the  family  of  Aaron  was  selected  for  the 
priesthood.  The  most  sacred  services  devolved  upon 
the  priests,  the  High  Priest  only  being  permitted  to 
enter  the  most  holy  place  once  a  year,  as  we  have  seen. 
The  Levites  performed  subordinate  services,  supplying 
the  requisite  wood  and  water  for  so  vast  a  system  of 


336  THE    SACRED   ORDERS. 

sacrifices  and  offerings,  and  serving  also  in  tlie  trans- 
portation of  the  sacred  tent  and  its  furniture.  At  a 
later  period  the  service  of  song  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord  was  in  their  hands. 

The  law  provided  a  full  ritual  for  the  induction  of 
the  High  Priest  into  his  office  and  for  the  consecration 
of  all  the  priests  to  their  work.  Their  robes  of  office, 
their  various  dress  on    all  occasions,  are  detailed  with 

great  minuteness. The  law  also  provided  specially 

for  their  subsistence.  A  portion  of  various  sacrifices 
fell  to  them  as  their  perquisite.  The  great  expense 
of  the  entire  ritual  service,  including  the  cost  of  the 
animals  offered  for  the  people  at  large ;  the  support  of 
the  priests,  and  to  some  extent  of  the  Levites,  was  pro- 
vided for  by  law  in  the  tithes ;  the  poll-tax  of  a  half- 
shekel  from  every  man  of  Israel;  and  from  various 
other  sources. 

In  the  ultimate  settlement  in  Canaan,  forty-eight 
cities  with  their  suburbs  were  given  to  the  Levites. 
They  were  thus  distributed  among  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  Canaan  both  east  and  west  of  the  Jordan,  and 
if  true  to  their  mission  would  fill  a  very  important 
sphere  in  both  the  civil  and  the  religious  life  of  the 
nation.    Of  their  civil  and  judicial  duties  I  have  spoken 

already.     They  were  also  teachers  of  religion. Their 

suburban  territory  would  afford  them  a  small  amount 
of  land  for  cultivation ;  but  the  divine  plan  was  that 
they  who  served  at  the  altar  should  live  from  the  altar. 
While  religious  services  were  conscientiously  performed 
and  the  religious  spirit  was  in  due  strength,  both 
priests  and  Levites  would  be  comfortably  fed  and  clad. 
Idolatry  and  religious  declension  would  cut  their  sup- 
plies short. 

The  careful  reader  of  those  portions  of  Exodus,  Le- 
viticus, and  Numbers  which  give  the  plan  of  the  taber- 
nacle, the  ritual  of  the  priests  and  Levites  and  the 
minute  detail  of  numerous  sacrifices  and  offerings  and 
l)urifieations,  will  not  need  the  suggestion  that  in  many 
respects  the  interest  and  the  value  of  these  details  have 
mostly  passed  away.  Of  prime  importance  in  that  age; 
vital  to  the  proi')er  construction  of  the  tabernacle ; 
vital  to  the  due  consecration  of  priest  and  Levite  and 
to  their  instruction  in  duty;  entirely  essential  to  the 
ends  of  a  ritual  system  which  was  to  be  the  religious 


PRESENT    VALUE    OF   THE    MOSAIC    RITUAL.  337 

law  of  a  great  people — they  were  all  in  place  then  and 
■were  indispensable ;  but  in  most  respects  this  interest 
and  value  have  long  since  ceased.  Whereas  in  the 
time  of  Moses  not  one  word  of  this  minute  detail  was 
superfluous,  not  one  point  could  be  safely  omitted ;  now, 
it  may  be  passed  over  with  only  brief  notice.  Few  will 
cai-e  to  read  all  its  particulars. 
Yet  two  points  deserve  remark  : 

1.  That  this  very  minuteness  of  detail  is  the  strongest 
evidence  of  the  genuineness  and  antiquity  of  these 
books.  They  were  certainly  written  at  the  time  of  the 
events  they  record.  They  never  could  have  been  gotten 
up  in  any  age  subsequent  to  the  events.  The  specifi- 
cations for  the  tabernacle  and  for  all  its  furniture  had 
a  purpose  then ;  but  could  have  had  no  purpose  to  jus- 
tify such  minuteness  after  the  construction  was  finished. 
It  would  be  the  supremest  folly  to  forge  such  documents 
ages  after  the  events  had  passed.  No  man  in  his  senses 
ever  attempts  such  a  forgery.  Men  never  submit  to 
such  labor  without  an  object;  and  the  case  precludes 
the  possibility  of  any  object  after  the  tent  was  built 
and  after  the  ritual  was  fully  understood  and  wrought 
into  established  usage. 

2.  While  these  minute  details  neither  require  nor  re- 
ward particular  investigation  in  our  day,  yet  taken  in 
whole  they  are  pregnant  loith  great  moral  lessons  for  all 
time. 

(1.)  There  was  a  perpetual  inculcation  of  cleanliness, 
external  purity;  and  the  most  careful  avoidance  of 
whatever  was  defiling.  The  ceremonial  washings  and 
cleansings,  the  removal  from  the  camp,  or  as  the  case 
may  be,  the  seclusion  from  the  court  of  the  tabernacle 
for  a  term  of  purification,  occur  frequently.  Bj^  a  nat- 
ural law  of  mind,  sin  is  associated  with  uncleanness; 
crime  is  defiling.  Hence,  with  almost  infinite  pains 
the  Lord  was  impressing  upon  his  people  the  great  idea 
that  their  God  Avho  deigned  to  dwell  among  them  "was 
of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity."  He  could  not 
abide  with  them  save  as  they  kej^t  themselves  clean 
and  pure. 

(2.)  On  every  hand  we  note  the  most  solemn  inculca- 
tion of  care,  thoughtfulnoss,  consideration,  especially  in 
their  religious  worship,  and  the  most  impressive  Avarn- 
ings  against  a  rash  and  inconsiderate  spirit.     Hence 


338        ITS   LESSONS   ON    THE    BLOOD   OF   ATONEMENT. 

wine  was  forbidden  to  the  priests  when  about  to  go  to 
the  altar  (Lev.  10:  8-11).  It  seemed  that  God  could, 
have  no  patience  with  the  thoughtless  and  irreverent. 
At  whatever  cost,  the  fear  of  the  Lord  must  be  im- 
pressed upon  the  people — else  all  effort  for  their  re- 
ligious culture  would  be  vain. 

(3.)  Their  great  thanksgiving  festivals ;  their  nu- 
merous thank-offerings;  their  vows;  their  required 
tithes — all  concur  in  this  one  idea-  -the  recognition  of 
God  as  the  Giver  of  all  blessings,  their  great  personal 
and  national  Benefactor.  No  pains  was  spared  to  im- 
press and  enforce  this  great  truth.  The  long  course  of 
God's  redeeming  mercies  toward  their  nation;  the 
rescue  from  Egyptian  bondage ;  the  miraculous  sup- 
plies of  bread  and  water  forty  years  in  the  desert ;  the 
gift  of  the  goodly  land  of  Canaan ; — these  were  the 
staple  facts  of  their  history  which  God  sought  to  en- 
grave upon  the  national  heart  and  to  work  into  the 
living  thought  of  the  thousands  of  Israel.  By  every 
hopeful  appliance  their  religious  system  was  shaped  to 
keep  alive  and  intensify  these  feelings. 

(4.)  More  important  than  all  the  rest  were  the  great 
moral  lessons  set  forth  hy  the  peiyetual  presence  of  atoning 
blood.  The  Israelites  were  never  allowed  to  forget  that 
they  were  sinners,  and  that  their  approach  to  God  must 
always  be  through  the  blood  of  atonement.  No  day 
might  begin,  no  day  might  close,  without  the  shedding 
of  animal  blood — the  sacrifice  of  an  innocent  animal's 
life.  The  great  days  were  great  because  of  the  multi- 
plication of  these  sacrifices — evermore  distinguished 
and  memorable  for  the  rivers  of  blood  that  flowed ;  for 
the  struggles  and  throes  of  the  dying ;  for  the  sprink- 
ling of  blood,  hloocl,  BLOOD,  all  round  about  the  hallowed 
altar,  toward  the  unseen  Presence  within  the  most  holy 

place,  and  upon  the  assembled  hosts  of  Israel. It 

may  cost  us  a  few  moments'  efibrt  to  reproduce  those 
scenes  before  our  mind's  eye  so  as  to  take  in  their  full 
significance;  but  this  effort  to  comprehend  that  ancient 
ritual  would  bring  its  reward.  What  a  demonstration 
it  would  be  in  proof  that  "  without  the  shedding  of 
blood  there  is  no  remission"!  that  God  never  looks  pro- 
pitiously on  guilty  sinners  save  through  the  Heeding 
sacrifice  of  his  crucified  Son !  As  bearing  upon  the 
great  questions — the  fact  and  the  nature  of  the  atone- 


ITS    LKSSONS   ON   THE    BLOOD   OF    ATONEMENT.        339 

ment — this  bloody  ritual  has  a  most  vital  and  impres- 
sive significance.  No  questions  of  deeper  and  more 
vital  import  can  ever  arise  than  such  as  these  :  Was  the 
death  of  Christ  expiatory?  Was  his  blood  shed  for  the 
sins  of  men?  Did  he  lay  down  his  life,  an  innocent 
victim,  that  the  guilty  sinners  who  place  their  hands 
upon  his  sacred  head  and  there  confess  their  sins  may 
live  and  never  die?  In  a  Avord,  was  his  death  fore- 
shadowed and  its  true  significance  pre-intimated  by  the 
bloody  offerings  enjoined  in  this  Hebrew  system? 

Argumentatively,  it  would  seem  that  these  great 
questions  are  decided  forever  by  the  following  consider- 
ations : 

1.  If  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  this  ancient  system  do 
not  set  forth  the  atoning  death  of  Christ,  they  mean 
nothing;  this,  or  nothing  at  all. 

2.  The  writer  to  the  Hebrew  Christians  testifies  that 
they  mean  this.  To  give  the  proof  of  this  statement  in 
full  would  repeat  entire  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  and 
tenth  chapters  of  this  epistle.  It  would  be  idle  to  say 
that  this  Avriter  does  not  refer  to  the  sacrificial  system 
of  ancient  Israel;  equally  idle  to  claim  that  he  does  not 
speak  of  the  bloody  death  of  Christ ;  more  than  idle  to 
deny  that  in  his  view  that  old  system  sought  to  illus- 
trate this  new  one — those  bloody  scenes  were  foreshad- 
owing prc-intimations  of  Christ's  death ;  that  those 
priests  were  precursors  of  this  greater  High  Priest; 
that  the  blood  which  Aaron  bore  once  a  year  into  the 
most  holy  place  meant  neither  more  nor  less  than  that 
Jesus  was  in  his  time  to  enter  once  for  all  into  a  yet 
more  holy  place  with  his  own  blood  and  thus  achieve 
for  us  eternal  redemption.  Jesus  "  needed  not  daily  as 
did  those  priests  to  offer  sacrifice,  first  for  his  own  sins 
and  then  for  the  people's;  for  this  he  did  once  "  [for  all] 
"when  he  offered  up  himself"  (Heb.  7:  27). 

3.  All  the  New  Testament  writers  Avere  Jews;  men 
of  Jewish  education,  men  of  life-long  training  in  re- 
ligious ideas  based  on  this  Hebrew  sacrificial  system. 
They  never  speak  of  the  purpose  or  results  of  Christ's 
death  save  in  terms  and  phrases  taken  from  this  sys- 
tem given  through  Moses.  Jesus  never  speaks  of  his 
own  death  save  in  these  same  Avords  and  phrases. 
When  he  speaks  of  "giving  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many"  (Mat.  20:  28);  Avhen  he  said,  "This  is  my  blood 


340  l^ESE   LESSONS   STEPS   OF   PROGRESS. 

of  the  New  Testament  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins"  (Mat  26:  28);  when  his  great  fore- 
runner speaks  of  him  as  "  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (Jno.  1 :  29); — or  Peter  (1 
Eps.  2:  24)  as  "  bearing  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the 
tree ; "  or  Paul  (2  Cor.  5  :  21)  as  being  "  made  a  sin-offer- 
ing for  us  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  him,"  it  is  simply  impossible  to  disprove  the 
reference  of  these  terms  and  phrases  to  the  Mosaic  sys- 
tem— impossible  to  give  them  any  other  sense  than 
that  which  is  illustrated  in  the  bloody  death  of  the 
sin-offerings  and  burnt-offerings  of  that  ancient  law. 

Thus  with  bands  which  no  sophistry  can  sever,  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New  are  bound  together,  and 
the  atonement  prefigured  in  the  former  is  embodied 
and  made  perfect  in  the  latter.  The  almost  ceaseless 
blood-sheddings  and  blood-sprinklings  of  the  former 
culminate  in  the  latter  in  the  one  great  scene  of  death- 
agony  and  blood  on  Calvary.  The  grand  idea  of  expia- 
tory suffering — of  the  vicarious  death  of  the  innocent 
in  place  of  the  guilty,  which  ages  of  ceremonial  sacrifice 
had  been  setting  forth  and  working  into  the  minds  of 
all  reverent  worshipers,  had  i^repared  the  way  for 
Christ's  disciples  to  understand  the  mystery  of  his 
bloody  death  and  to  teach  the  Christian  world  in  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament  hoiv  the  blood  of  Jesus 
"  takes  away  sml" 

In  closing  our  notice  of  this  religious  system,  let  us 
revert  for  a  moment  to  the  fact  that  all  its  important 
features  were  so  many  important  sfcj^s  of  2^rogrcss  in  the 
manifestation  of  God  to  man.  These  were  lessons  in 
advance  of  all  that  had  preceded  on  that  greatest  of  all 
questions — Plow   shall  man  approach  his  Maker,  and 

how  shall  he  offer  acceptable   worship? That  God 

deigned  to  come  down  and  dwell  with  his  obedient 
people  is  the  precious  truth  which  underlies  all  these 
provisions  for  Ms  worship.  Plow  shall  man  treat  this 
Heavenly  Guest;  how  adjust  himself  to  this  pure  and 
majestic  Presence  ;  with  what  state  of  heart ;  with  what 
purity  and  cleanliness  of  person ;  with  what  offerings 

and  sacrifices  and  of  what  significance  ? These  are 

the  points  embraced  in  these  great  lessons  taught  in 
this  religious  system.      The  perpetual  inculcation  of 


THESE   LESSONS   STEPS   OF    PROGRESS.  341 

cleanliness  and  of  conscientious,  scrupulous  care ;  the 
practice  of  perpetual  thanksgiving;  but  above. all,  the 
copious  illustrations  of  the  great  idea  of  bloody  sacrifice 
to  take  away  sin ; — these  have  been  already  named  as 
the  salient  features  in  this  system,  and  all  (it  will  be 
noticed)  are  points  of  procjress.  Bloody  sacrifices  and 
altars  appear  in  the  worship  offered  by  Abraham,  Noah, 
and  even  Abel.  But  how  much  more  fully  is  their  true 
import  unfolded  here  ?  Here  is  confession  of  sin  on  the 
l^art  of  the  worshiper ;  here  is  the  symbolic  transfer  of 
sins  by  imposition  of  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  victim 
brought  out  to  die :  here  is  the  sprinkling  of  his  blood 
all  round  about  the  altar;  upon  the  very  mercy-seat 
and  immediately  in  the  presence  of  the  Holy  One  Avho 
sat  beneath  the  cherubim;  upon  the  worshipers  also 
gathered  round  the  bloody  altar:  here  are  the  special 
solemnities  of  the  great  day  of  atonement  in  which  the 
whole  sacrificial  system  culminated — all  combining 
their  significance  to  unfold  the  great  idea  of  the  vica- 
rious sufferings  of  an  innocent  victim  in  place  of  guilty 
men. 


CHAPTER   XX 


HISTORIC  EVENTS  OF  HEBREW  HISTORY  FROM  SINAI 
TO  THE  JORDAN. 

The  Golden  Calf. 

We  dropped  the  thread  of  this  history  at  Sinai  to 
study  with  undivided  attention  the  civil  code  of  Moses 
and  also  the  religious  system.     We  now  resume  it. 

Moses  tarried  on  the  Mount  forty  days  to  receive  from 
the  Lord  the  civil  statutes  in  detail  and  also  all  his  in- 
structions in  respect  to  the  tahernacle,  the  priesthood, 
and  the  ritual.  The  time  seemed  long  to  the  restive 
people.  They  became  utterly  impatient ;  the}^  lost  faith 
in  God  and  in  Moses;  fell  back  upon  their  previous 
Egyptian  notions  ;  and  consequently  applied  to  Aaron, 
saying  :  "  Up,  make  us  gods  which  shall  go  before  us ; 
for  as  for  this  Moses — the  man  that  brought  us  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt — we  wot  not  what  has  become  of 
him."  Aaron  replied :  "  Break  ofT  and  bring  to  me  your 
golden  ear-rings."  Whether  he  hoped  they  would  with- 
draw their  request  when  they  saw  how  much  it  was  to 
cost  them  does  not  appear.  But  it  does  appear  that 
their  enthusiasm  for  idol  gods  was  equal  to  this  sacrifice 
of  their  golden  ornaments.  They  brought  them  freely 
as  Aaron  had  proposed,  and  he  made  of  them  a  golden 
calf.  Strangely  enough,  the  people  greeted  this  sense- 
less thing  with  the  shout :  "  These  be  thy  gods,  0  Israel, 
which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  What 
could  this  mean  ?  Did  they  really  believe  that  this  calf 
was  the  power  tliat  brought  those  plagues  on  Pharaoh ; 
that  rolled  away  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  ;  bore  them 
safely  over,  but  hurled  destruction  on  Pharaoh's  host  ? 
Did  they  see  the  Power  that  wrought  all  these  wonders 
in  this  powerless  calf?  Or  did  they  assume  that  the 
Invisible  Power  which  achieved  this  work  was  well 

represented   by   this   golden  image? The   ineffable 

folly  of  idolatry  according  to  either  notion  staggers  us; 
we  know  not  what  to  make  of  it.     If  the  facts  were  not 


THE   GOLDEN    CALF.  343 

BO  patent  the  world  over  and  through  all  the  ages  of  the 
race,  it  would  be  our  first  impulse  to  assume  it  all  a 
fiction  and  to  say — Men  never  could  be  so  supremely 
silly  and  foolish  as  to  suppose  the  Great  God  to  be  like 
a  calf!  or  as  to  suppose  that  a  calf,  whether  of  gold  or 
of  flesh  and  blood,  could  be  a  God  ! 

We  are  tempted  to  digress,  perhaps  too  much,  into  a 
discussion  of  the  philosophy  of  idolatry.  On  this  point 
it  must  suffice  to  say  that  no  philosophy  of  such  a  fact 
can  ever  be  satisfactory  save  one  that  assumes  and 
makes  large  account  of  human  depravity — tlius:  Some 
recognition  of  superhuman  power  is  inevitable;  it  is 
in  man's  deepest  convictions,  and  can  not  be  got  out. 
But  men  shrink  from  the  near  presence  of  a  pure,  sin- 
hating  God.  Any  thing  else  is  more  endurable.  Give 
us  (they  say)  some  God  to  worship  who  will  not  disturl) 
our  sinning,  or  some  way  of  worshiping  the  Supreme 
which  will  at  least  put  that  pure,  all-searching  Eye 
farther  oft'.  And  as  to  the  reasonableness  of  such  notions 
of  God,  there  is  only  this  to  be  said:  Sin  makes  meii 

think  like  fools;  sin  makes  men  act  like  fools! This 

philosophy  of  idolatry,  and  this  only,  touches  bottom 

and  must  stand. In  the  case  before  us,  it  is  noticeable 

that  the  people  Avere  charmed  with  this  new  worship, 
for  they  could  sit  down  to  eat  and  to  drink  and  rise  up 
to  play/  A  fine  time  they  had  of  it.  There  was  no 
troublesome  sense  of  a  pure,  sin-hating  God  there.  The 
question  how  this  calf  could  be  the  same  God  who 
brought  them  out  of  Egypt  was  of  the  least  possible 
concern  to  them. 

Aaron  is  swept  along  in  the  current  of  this  mad  in- 
fatuation. When  he  saw  this  calf,  he  built  an  altar 
before  it  and  made  proclamation  :  "  To-morrow  is  a  feast 
to  the  Lord."  Full  of  heart  for  such  a  service  "  the 
people  rose  up  early  on  the  morrow  and  offered  burnt- 
ofterings  and  brought  peace-offerings ;  they  sat  down  to 
eat  and  to  drink,  and  rose  up  to  pla}'." 

A  view  of  this  scene  from  another  stand-point  follows 
next  in  the  narrative.  AVe  are  shown  what  transpired 
on  the  Mount  where  the  Lord,  Moses,  and  his  servant 
Joshua  were  still  engaged  together.  The  God  of  Israel 
whose  eyes  are  in  every  place,  apprised  Moses  of  what 
the  people  were  doing.  In  words  adapted  to  make  Moses 
feel  his  personal  responsibility,  and  perhaps  tu  intimate 


344  THE    INTERCESSION   OF   MOSES. 

that  for  himself  he  must  disown  such  a  people,  he 
said — "Go,  get  thee  down,  for  thy  jieople,  whom  thou 
hroughted  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  have  corrupted  them- 
selves." They  have  made  and  are  now  worshiping  a 
golden  calf  as  the  God  that  brought  them  out  of  Egypt. 

The  Lord  closed  with   a  proposal  which   Avas   in 

many  points  of  view  intensely  tr3'ing  to  Moses ;  viz. 
that  Moses  should  suffer  the  Lord  to  consume  this  cor- 
rupt people.      Then  he  would  make  the  posterity  of 

Moses  a  great  nation,  in  place  of  rejected. Israel. Did 

the  Lord  say  this  to  prove  Moses  in  the  line  of  personal 
pride?  However  this  may  have  been,  the  result  was 
morally  sublime.  The  temptation  (if  we  may  call  it 
such)  made  no  impression.  Moses  jDasses  it  by  as  a 
thing  not  to  be  thought  of.  The  Lord  seemed  to  antic- 
ipate that  Moses  would  pray  for  the  people,  and  there- 
fore said — "  Let  me  alone  that  my  wrath  may  wax  hot 

against  them  and  that  I  may  consume  them." Not 

deterred  a  moment  by  this,  "  Moses  besought  the  Lord 
his  God  and  said :  Why  doth  thy  Avrath  wax  hot 
against  thy  people  [not  merely  "my  people  "J  which 
Thou  [not  I]  hast  brought  forth  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt  with  great  power  and  with  a  mighty  hand"? 
He*  boldly  argues  the  case :  Why,  Lord,  shouldest  thou 
give  occasion  to  the  Egyptians  to  say  that  thou 
broughtest  forth  this  people  only  to  slay  them  in  the 
mountains  and  consume  them  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  ?  What  will  be  said  of  thy  solemn  oath  to  Abra- 
ham to  multiply  his  seed  as  the  stars  and  to  give  them 
Canaan?  How  will  these  things  bear  upon  thine  own 
glory  before  earth  and  heaven  ? 

This  is  a  most  remarkable  case  of  prayer.  Was  ever 
mortal  more  bold  and  more  persistent,  despite  of  all  the 
Lord  had  said  which  seemed  to  shut  the  door  and  bar 
off  all  entreaty?  Yet  Moses  prevailed,  and  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  Lord  rebuked  him  for  his  persistence 
or  for  his  boldness.  It  is  simi^ly  said — "  The  Lord  re- 
pented of  the  evil  which  he  thought  to  do  unto  his 

people." This  point  being  so  far  gained,  Moses  must 

go  down  to  the  people.  With  the  two  stone  tablets  of 
the  law  in  hand  and  Joshua  by  his  side,  he  descends 
the  mount.  Joshua's  ear  first  caught  the  sound  from 
the  camp.  His  military  antecedents  suggest  to  him  a 
a  battle  :  "  There  is  a  noise  of  war  in  the  camp."     With 


THE    INTERCESSION   OF   MOSES,  345 

justcr  discrimination  Moses  replies:  "It  is  not  the 
shout  of  victors;  it  is  not  the  outcry  of  the  vanquished; 
but  it  is  the  voice  of  song  that  I  hear."  They  come 
witliin  sight — and  true  enough — there  was  the  calf-god, 
and  the  peoj)le  were  dancing  and  singing  around  it 
with  wild,  mad  enthusiasm.  What  a  scene  to  Moses! 
How  is  his  soul  fired  with  holy  indignation  !  He  casts 
to  the  earth  the  two  tablets  and  breaks  them  at  the 
foot  of  the  mount.  Next,  he  demolishes  the  calf;  grinds 
it  to  powder;  mixes  it  with  water  and  compels  the 
people  to  drink  it.     A  million  of  men  are  in  dismay 

before    him — all   powerless   to  resist. He    turns    to 

Aaron,  his  elder  brother,  to  rebuke  him.  Aaron's  de- 
fense is  both  tame  and  lame,  as  that  of  a  man  thor- 
oughly ashamed  of  himself.  "  Thou  knowest  the  people, 
bent  on  mischief.  The}'-  beset  me  to  make  them  a  calf; 
I  told  them  to  bring  forward  their  gold ;  they  did  so. 
I  threw  it  into  the  fire — and  the  calf  made  itself! 

The  more  vital  movement  followed.  Moses  took  his 
stand  in  the  gate  of  the  camp  and  cried  aloud :  "  Who 
is  on  the  Lord's  side?  Let  him  come  over  to  me." 
The  sons  of  Levi,  his  tribal  brethren,  responded  to  the 
call  and  came.  He  bade  them  take  every  man  his 
sword  and  pass  to  and  fro  through  the  camp,  cutting 
down  every  man  they  met.  There  fell  that  day  three 
thousand.  The  sin  called  for  some  fearful  visitation 
of  God's  disjileasure — something  that  should  impress 
the  whole  people  with  a  sense  of  God's  irrepressible 
indignation. 

Thus  closed  this  fearful  day.  After  one  night's  re- 
flection, Moses  convenes  the  people,  brings  their  great 
sin  before  them  again,  and  says — "  I  will  go  up  before 
the  Lord;  perhaps  I  may  make  atonement  for  your 
sin."  His  prayer  is  on  record — short,  but  full  of  mean- 
ing. "Oh,  this  people  have  sinned  a  great  sin  and 
have  made  them  gods  of  gold.  Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt 
forgive  their  sin  : — and  if  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee  out 

of  thy  book  which   thou  hast  written." To  Avhich 

the  Lord  answers :  "  Whosoever  hath  sinned  against 
me,  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book." 

The  praj'-er  of  Moses  (v.  32)  should  be  read  with  a 
strong  emphasis  on  the  word  "if,"  making  it  equiva- 
lent to  0  that:  If  thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin,  all  will 
be  well.     O  that  thou  wouldest !     If  not,  life  is  nothing 


346        THE    LORD    REVEALS    HIS   NAME    AND   GLORY. 

to  me ;  blot  me  out  from  the  book  of  the  living.     Let 

me  rather  die  than  live  any  longer. The  primary 

meaning  of  this  "book"  of  life  is  a  register  of  living 
men — Avith  reference  to  the  earthly  life,  of  this  world 
only  and  not  of  the  next.  It  is  not  to  be  taken  here  as 
including  the  future  life.  The  Lord's  final  answer 
spares  the  national  life,  but  subjects  the  people  yet  to 
visitations  of  judgment  for  this  terrible  sin. 

Though  the  main  point  seemed  to  be  gained — God 
could  consent  to  spare  the  nation — jet  a  qualifying 
condition  troubled  Moses  exceedingly.  The  Lord  said — 
I  will  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  drive  out  the  Canaan- 
ite ;  but  I  will  not  go  up  in  the  midst  of  thee  myself, 
for  thou  art  a  stiff-necked  people,  lest  I  consume  thee 
in  the  way.  It  can  not  be  safe  for  so  wayward  a  people 
to  have  with  them  the  personal  presence  of  a  God  so 

pure  and  so  sin-hating. -In   the   settlement  of  this 

grave  matter,  Moses  was  permitted  to  come  very  near 
to  the  God  of  Israel,  to  talk  with  him  as  a  man  talks 
with  his  friend.  INfoses  said  (in  substance) :  Thou  hast 
made  me  responsible  to  lead  this  people  onward  to 
Canaan ;  but  thou  hast  not  told  me  whom  thou  wilt 
send  with  me.  Yet  thou  hast  very  kindly  said,  "  I  know 
thee  by  name,  and  thou  hast  found  grace  in  my  sight." 
If  this  be  so,  show  me  now  thy  way  that  I  may  know 
thee;  that  I  may  find  grace  in  thy  sight;  and  do  not 
call  this  people  viine,  but  consider  them  thine.  Let  me 
know  what  thy  way  of  dealing  with  me  and  with  thy 
people  is  to  be  and  what  I  may  depend  upon  in  this 
thing. The  Lord  graciously  answers : — "  My  pres- 
ence shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest :"  this 
rest  being  probably  the  promised  rest  of  the  nation  in 
Caiiaan,  and  not  merely  rest  in  the  sense  of  a  satisfied 

mind     exempt    from     harassing    vexations. Moses 

promptly  answers — "  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  me, 
carry  us  not  up  hence."  If  thou  art  not  going  with  us, 
let  Canaan  be  given  up  and  this  whole  enterprise  be 
abandoned,  for  what  can  we  do  unless  our  own  God  be 
with  us?  Plow  have  we  ever  been  distinguished  from 
other  peoples  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  save  in  this — 
that  our  God,  the  great,  the  pure,  and  the  Holy  One, 

has  been  personally   present   Avith    us? The    Lord 

graciously  yields  this  point  also. 

Moses  has  still  one  more   request   to  make — the  last 


THE    LORD    REVEALS    HIS   NAME    AND   GLORY.         347 

and  perhaps  the  greatest :  "  I  beseech  thee,  show  me 
thy  glory."  Moses  had  seen  the  piUar  of  cloud  and  of 
fire ;  more  than  this,  he  had  been  on  Mt.  Sinai  where 
the  August  Presence  was  so  grand  and  awful  that  he 
said — "  i  do  exceedingly  fear  and  quake ;"  and  just  at 
this  time  we  are  told  that  the  cloudy  pillar  descended 
and  stood  at  the  very  door  of  Moses'  tent,  and  the  Lord 
talked  with  Moses,  speaking  unto  him  face  to  face  as 
a  rnan  speaketh  unto  his  friend  (Ex.  33:  9,  11).  But 
this  last  request  asks  for  something  yet  more  deep  and 
spiritual.  These  recent  developments  have  made  on 
the  mind  of  Moses  a  painful  impression  that  after  all 
he  does  not  yet  know  God  fully — does  not  really  under- 
stand him;  and  therefore  needs  to  know  him  more 
thoroughly.  Where  is  the  line  between  his  mercy  and 
his  wrath?  How  much  can  he  bear  in  his  covenant 
people,  and  at  Avhat  point  will  his  mei'cy  surely  turn 
to  consuming  judgment?  When  and  on  what  grounds 
will  he  forgive  his   sinning  people  and  blot  out  their 

iniquities? These  are  the  points  in  the  character 

of  God  which  he  feels  that  he  must  know,  and  which 
he  expresses  under  the  one  most  comprehensive  word — 
"  thy  glor3\"  They  belong  to  the  depths  of  the  divine 
nature. 

This  inquisitive  spirit  is  promi")ted  by  one  supreme 
desire  in  the  heart  of  INIoses,  viz.  to  do  faithfully  and 
well  the  work  to  which  God  has  called  him,  and  to  learn 
how  to  bear  himself  toward  God  under  these  responsi- 
bilities. Therefore  the  Lord  yields  here  also,  the  re- 
quest being  not  only  reasonable  but  pleasing  to  him ; 
for,  does  not  the  Lord  always  delight  to  meet  those  who 
long  to  see  more  of  his  glory,  especially  when  the  deep- 
est aim  and  purpose  of  this  longing  culminate  in  the 
passion  to  do  the  Lord's  work  more  perfectly  ? No- 
ticeably, the  Lord's  answer  chooses  a  new  word.  He 
does  not  say — Yes,  my  servant  Moses,  I  will  shoAV  thee 
my  "  glory" ;  but  this :  "  I  Avill  make  all  my  goodness 
pass  before  thee,  and  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the 
Lord  before  thee." This  is  not  by  any  means  an  eva- 
sion of  the  main  question,  for  the  Lord  comes  squarely 
up  to  the  very  point  that  labors  in  the  mind  of  his 
servant  Moses — the  mutual  relations  in  the  character 
and  ways  of  God  between  his  mercies  and  his  justice; 
his   compassion    toward  his    children,  and    his  fearful 


348        THE    LORD   REVEALS   HIS   NAME   AND   GLORY. 

severity  to  the  guilty  whom  no  mercy  can  hold  to  obe- 
dience ;  whom  nothing  can  move  but  terrific  judg- 
ments.  It  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to  explain  the 

usage  of  the  word  "  name'^  as  spoken  of  God :  "  I  will 
proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee."  We  have 
become  familiar  with  the  fact  that  in  the  Scriptures, 
the  name  (usually)  does  more  than  merely  distinguish 
one  individual  from  another  (as  in  our  common  par- 
lance), being  significant  of  nature,  of  character,  of  some 
predominant  quality.  It  is  not  that  God  may  be  called 
the  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  but  that  he  is  the  Lord,  i.  e. 
the  real  Jehovah — forever  the  same,  and  forever  faithful 
to  his  promises.  To  proclaim  his  name  therefore  is  to' 
proclaim  his  nature;  to  testify  to  his  real  character. 

The  manner  and  circumstances  of  this  proclamation 
in  the  case  before  us  are  altogether  unique  and  strik- 
ing. The  ground  idea  is  that,  in  human  relationships, 
we  learn  the  character  by  seeing  the  man.  We  depend 
on  the  eye  and  the  sense  of  sight  above  the  testimony 
of  any  other  sense,  and  Ave  expect  to  see  the  character 
in  the  face.  To  "  see  the  face"  is,  therefore,  the  most 
complete  and  satisfactory  means  of  learning  the  char- 
acter— of  knowing  the  man — that  we  can  have  under 
the  limitations  of  our  present  mortal  state.  The  lan- 
guage and  the  whole  transaction  before  us  rest  on  these 

simple  facts  of  our  present  life. The  Lord  said  to 

Moses :  "  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face;  for  there  shall  no 
man  see  me  and  live."  To  see  the  very  face  of  God 
would  imply  a  more  full  revelation  of  his  ineffable 
glory  than  mortal  man  could  bear.  A  softened  mani- 
festation of  those  unutterable  glories  is  all,  therefore, 
that  can  be  granted  even  to  the  man  of  God,  Moses ;  and 
this  is  expressively  put  by  saying  :  "  Thou  shalt  see  my 
hack  jmj'ts;  my  face  shall  not  be  seen."  This  was  the 
Ijord's  proposal :  "  Behold,  there  is  a  place  by  me,  and 
thou  shalt  stand  upon  a  rock  ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass 
while  my  glory  passeth  by  that  I  will  put  thee  in  a 
cleft  of  the  rock,  and  I  will  cover  thee  with  my  hand 
while  I  pass  by:  then  I  will  take  away  my  hand  and 
tbou  shalt  see  m_v  back  parts,  but  my  face  shall  not  be 
seen"  (Ex.  33:  21-23). 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  this  narrative  I\foses  makes 
no  attempt  to  describe  the  scenes  of  this  visible  mani- 
festation, or   tlie   impressions   it   made   on   his   mind. 


CONDITIONS    FOR   THE    FUTUEE.  349 

Words  are  too  Aveak  for  such  a  service.  Those  glorious 
views  of  God  which  sight  may  give,  and  which  we  may 
assume  that  Moses  obtained  in  this  proposed  manifesta- 
tion, each  one  must  have  for  himself  alone  and  not  for 
another.  They  will  come  to  all  the  Lord's  true  chil- 
dren in  the  day  when  they  shall  see  even  as  they  are 

seen   and   know  as  they  are  known. The  matters 

which  IMoses  does  record  at  this  point  are,  that  the 
Lord  bade  him  prepare  two  other  stone  tablets  to  re- 
place the  broken  and  to  appear  with  them  the  next 
morning  on  the  top  of  the  mount ;  that  he  must  come 
alone  and  let  no  other  man  be  seen  in  all  the  mount, 
nor'let  any  animal  of  the  Hock  or  herd  feed  before  the 
mount;  that  then  the  Lord  descended  in  the  cloud  and 
stood  with  him  there,  and  jproclaimed  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
The  words  of  this  proclamation  are  recorded : — "  The 
Lord  [the  Jehovah],  Jehovah  God,  merciful  and  gracious; 
long-suffering  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth ; 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands;  forgiving. iniquity,  trans- 
gression and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children  and  upon  children's  children  unto  the  third 

and  to  the  fourth  generation." Profoundly  awed  by 

these  words  and  by  this  impressive  manifestation;  en- 
couraged by  the  prominence  given  in  it  to  the  ideas  of 
mercy  and  loving-kindness,  Moses  made  haste,  and 
bowed  his  head  to  the  earth  and  worshiped,  and  then 
lifted  up  his  prayer — "If  now  I  have  found  grace  in 
thy  sight,  0  Lord",  let  my  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  go  among 
us  (for  it  is  a  stiff-necked  people}  and  pardon  our  in- 
iquity and  our  sin  and  take  us  for  thine  inheritance." 

The  same  points  are  prominent  here  as  before  (Ex. 

32:  11-13)— that  God  Avould  forgive  the  great  sin  of  the 
people;  that  he  would  go  among  them  again,  and  dwell 
in  the  midst  of  them;  and  that  he  would  truly  take 
and  hold  them  as  his  own  inheritance.  Upon  all  these 
points  the  heart  of  Moses  is  intently  set,  and  he  brings 
them  before  God  every  time.  The  Lord  responds — I 
renew  my  covenant ;  I  shall  go  on  to  work  marvelously 
among  this  people.  The  revelations  of  my  great  name 
before  them  and  before  all  the  world  by  means  of  them, 
are  only  begun.  I  will  go  before  this  people  to  drive 
out  the  Canaanite;  but  this  one  thing  I  must  insist 
upon:  My  people  must  wash  out  every  stain  of  idol- 


350      EGYPTIAN    INFLUENCE    IN    THIS    CALF-WOKSHIP. 

worship;  they  must  destroy  all  idol-altars,  break  down 
their  images,  cut  down  their  groves,  hav^e  no  associ- 
ations with  corrupt  idol-worshipers;  worship  no  other 
than  the  one  true  and  holy  God,  for  the  Lord  whose 
name  is  Jealous  is  a  jealous  God.  Other  requirements 
follow  as  may  be  seen  (Ex.  34)  ;  Moses  fills  out  another 
forty  days  on  the  mount;  the  law  is  again  written  on 
two  tablets  like  the  former;  Moses  comes  down  with  his 
face  (unconsciously  to  himself)  shining  as  if  the  re- 
flection of  the  more  shining  face  of  God  still  lingered 
upon  it.  When  Aaron  and  all  Israel  saw  this,  they 
feared  to  come  near  him.  Moses  called  to  them  (i.  e.  to 
come)  ;  Aaron  and  the  rulers  (not  the  people)  came  and 
Moses  talked  with  them.  Afterward  all  the  people 
drew  near  and  Moses  rehearsed  the  recently,  revealed 
commandments  of  the  Lord,  putting  a  vail  on  his  face 
while  speaking  with  the  people.  This  glory  on  his 
face  was  the  sensible  witness  that  he  had  been  in  very 
deed  talking  with  the  all-glorious  God,  and  that  it  be- 
hooved them  to  accept  him  as  God's  authorized  mes- 
senger. 

In  tracing  thus  rapidly  the  general  course  of  thought 
in  these  chapters  (Ex.  32-34),  I  have  aimed  to  bring 
out  the  salient  points  and  the  spirit  of  the  transactions. 
Some  things  have  been  passed  Avhich  it  were  well  to 
return  and  examine  more  fully. 

This  first  great  apostacy  into  idol-worship  was  doubt- 
less born  of  their  Egyptian  life.  There  they  had  seen 
the  ox,  the  cow,  and  the  calf  made  objects  of  worship. 
It  is  supposable  that  the  leaders  in  this  movement 
were  of  that  "  mixed  multitude  "  who  came  out  from 
Egypt  with  them  (Ex.  12 :  38),  and  who  seem  to  have 
led  off  in  the  lusting  and  murmuring  at  Taberah 
(Num.  11 :  4).  Neither  of  these  facts — their  having 
seen  such  worship  in  Egypt,  nor  their  being  seduced 
by  the  Egyptians  among  them — can  at  all  excuse  their 

sin.     It  admits  of  no  excuse. Moses  recites  the  main 

l^oints  of  this  case  again  (Deut.  9:  8-21),  omitting  the 
special  manifestation  of  God's  name,  but  giving  promi- 
nence to  his  own  anxiety,  not  to  say  agony,  on  their 
behalf  lest  the  Lord  should  indeed  destroy  them.  "  I 
fell  down  before  the  Lord  as  at  the  first  forty  days  and 
forty  nights;  I  did  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink  water 


INCIDENTS   CONNECTED   WITH   THE   GOLDEN    CALF.     351 

because  of  all  your  sin  which  ye  had  sinned  in  doing 
wickedly  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  to  provoke  him  to 
anger  (for  I  Avas  afraid  of  the  anger  "and  hot  displeasure 
wherewith  the  Lord  was  wroth  Avith  you  to  destroy 
you)".      He  also  speaks  of  his  prayer  for  Aaron  whose 

sin  in  this  matter   had   been  great    (v.   20). How 

much  this  great  apostacy  impressed  itself  upon  the  na- 
tion's history  and  affected  good  men  in  after  ages,  may 
be  seen  in  Ps.  106 :  19-23,  and  Acts  7 :  39-43,  and  1  Cor. 
10:7. 

The  fact  that  Moses  burnt  and  pulverized  the  golden 
calf  so  that  he  might  compel  the  people  to  drink  it, 
shows  him  to  have  been  profoundl}^  skilled  in  the  sci- 
ence of  metallurgy.  He  has  not  told  us  what  solvent 
he  used,  other  than  fire,  for  it  was  no  part  of  his  object 
to  teach  this  art  or  to  exhibit  his  skill  therein.  Few 
men  have  ever  lived  in  any  age  who  could  have 
done  it. 

The  social  and  moral  influence  of  this  festival  for  idol- 
worship  is  expressively  put  by  Moses :  "The  peo^Dle  sat 
down  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  rose  up  to  play."  As  the 
subsequent  narrative  shows,  here  was  revelry — dan- 
cing, shouting,  and  song.  God  was  forgotten;  all  true 
sense  of  his  presence  and  indeed  of  his  nature  was 
ruled  out  by  the  very  fact  that  they  had  exalted  a 
golden  calf  into  his  place.  By  a  law  of  human  nature 
men  become  like  the  object  they  worship.  Calf-wor- 
shipers go  down  to  the  level  of  the  calf  they  worship. 
Alas !  would  that  they  did  not  sink  far  lower  in  passion 
and  in  crime ! 

In  Ex.  32 :  25  Ave  read :  "  When  Moses  saw  that  the 
people  Avere  naked — (for  Aaron  had  made  them  naked 
unto  their  shame  among  their  enemies),  then  he. took 
his  stand  in  the  gate  of  the  camp  and  said,  "Who  is  on 

the  Lord's  side?  let  him   come  unto  me." INIodern 

critics  for  the  most  part  give  the  HebrcAV  Avords  the 
sense,  not  of  being  naked,  but  of  being  cast  loose,  demor- 
alized, put  into  the  state  of  being  laAvless,  tvltlwut  restraint. 
'J'he  principal  verb  occurs  rarely ;  it  may  of  itself  bear 
either  sense  above  indicated.  The  sense  "naked"  does 
not  Avell  suit  the  context;  for  in  Avhat  sense  did  Aaron 
make  them  naked  ?  And  hoAV  could  their  nakedness  be 
a  reason  why  Moses  should  scud  arrived  men  among  them 
to  slay  three  thousand? The  other  seiise,  therefore, 


S52  LESSONS    FROM   MOSES   ON   PRAYER. 

should  be  preferred.  Aaron  had  utterly  demoralized 
them.  They  were  powerless,  and  only  objects  of  scorn 
before  their  enemies.  God  had  in  wrath  forsaken 
them. 

From  Ex.  33 :  4-6  it  appears  that  the  people  were 
mourning  over  the  sad  tidings  that  God  refused  to  go 
with  them  to  Canaan,  and  that  they  indicated  their 
grief  in  part  by  leaving  oft'  their  usual  ornaments,  as 
God  had  commanded  them  to  do.  In  v.  6  our  transla- 
tion reads,  "  Israel  stripped  themselves  of  their  orna- 
ments hy  the  Mount  Horeb."  The  Hebrew  favors  the 
sense,  ^'•jrom  Mt.  Horeb  " — i.  e.  from  that  point  of  their 
history  and  onward ;  signifying  that  they  gave  this 
permanent  indication  of  humility  and  shame  for  their 
great  sin.  Nothing  could  be  more  appropriate,  since 
those  ornaments  of  gold  were  strongly  associated  with 
their  awful  sin  in  the  matter  of  the  calf.  It  is  pleasant 
to  see  that  they  were  so  prompt  to  give  this  expression 
of  their  sorrow  and  shame. 

In  that  most  emphatic  announcement  of  the  name  of 
the  Lord  (34 :  6,  7),  we  must  note  the  reiteration  of  the 
ideas  of  mercy,  grace,  long-suffering,  compassion,  good- 
ness, truth — as  if  the  leading  purpose  were  to  inspire 
hope  and  comfort  in  souls  contrite  and  humble  for  sin. 
Solemn  and  awful  words  were  indeed  spoken  of  "  visit- 
ing men  for  their  iniquity;"  and  not  the  fathers  only 
but  the  children  also  by  the  laws  of  inevitable  connec- 
tion between  parent  and  offspring.  Nationally  and 
socially,  the  children  in  this  nation  must  suffer  for  the 
sin  of  tbeir  parents.  The  smiting  dead  of  three  thou- 
sand guilty  fathers  left  many  thousand  children  orphans. 
If  for  the  sins  of  the  fathers  God  had  dropped  the  na- 
tion at  Horeb,  where  would  have  been  their  promised 
Canaan?  What  could  have  been  the  lot  of  coming  gen- 
erations of  Israel  but  disaster— privation  of  good ;  ac- 
cumulation of  evil?  That  God  should  put  so  promi- 
nently in  the  fore-ground  this  feature  in  his  threatened 
retribution  implies  his  hope  that  he  might  touch  the 
lieart  of  fathers  and  mothers  in  this  way  when  they 

were  fearfully  insensible  to  all  other  considerations. 

As  to  the  bearing  of  this  announcomcnt  of  God's  names 
upon  the  then  pending  question— What  may  the  nation 
hope  for  from  the  God  of  their  covenant  ?  we  must  sup- 
pose that  it  encouraged  Moses  greatly.     He  would  sa}^ — 


LESSONS  FROM   MOSES   ON    PRAYER.  353 

Assuredly  God  would  not  put  his  mercies  forward  so 
sweetly,  so  richly,  so  in  the  front  of  all  his  manifesta- 
tions, if  he  had  not  some  blessed  thoughts  of  mercy  for 
us.  Let  us  trust  his  loving-kindness  !  While  we  will 
listen  to  his  solemn  words  of  warning  against  sin,  we 
Avill  believe  that  it  is  his  purpose  to  forgive  this  great 
sin  and  to  grant  us  still  his  gracious  protecting  pres- 
ence.    So  he  presses  his  suit  once  more  in  prayer. 

Among  the  greatest  lessons  of  this  history  are  those 
that  relate  to  prayer.  The  whole  character  of  Moses  as 
seen  in  this  transaction  is  wonderfully  pure  and  true. 
How  unselfishly  he  casts  away,  as  not  to  be  thought  of, 
the  divine  suggestion — "  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  na- 
tion " !  With  what  solid  grasp  and  singular  tenacity 
did  he  hold  fast  to  the  great  ideas  of  God's  covenant 
with  Abraham — to  make  this  nation  his  own  peculiar 
people;  to  abide  among  them;  to  manifest  himself  in 
works  of  power  and  grace,  and  get  himself  a  great 
name  in  all  the  earth  !  Shall  God  forget  this  covenant; 
abandon  this  people;  drop  them  midway  from  Egypt 
to  Canaan,  and  leave  all  the  nations  to  exult  in  their 
ruin  and  to  put  it  to  the  caprice  or  the  impotence  of 

Israel's  God?      Never. It  is  wonderful  how  Moses 

holds  on  upon  these  strong  points  in  his  case  and  the 
case  of  Israel ;  how  thoroughly  he  proves  himself  to 
have  been  raised  uj)  of  God  for  the  great  mission  of 
Israel's  Leader  and  Advocate  with  God.  With  what 
boldness  does  he  debate  the  case  before  the  Lord  and  set 
forth  his  strong  reasons — reasons,  not  of  selfish  sort,  not 
looking  so  much  to  the  human  side  as  to  the  divine ; 
reasons  that  entered  deeply  into  the  greatest  of  all  con- 
siderations^-the  honor  of  God  before  all  the  nations,  and 
the  success  of  his  plans  in  making  Israel  his  chosen 
people.  As  we  search  the  annals  of  human  history  in 
vain  to  find  a  stronger  case  of  power  with  God  in  prayer, 
so  we  must  look  far  to  find  a  case  more  instructive  in 
regard  to  the  proper  attitude  for  praying  souls  before 
God,  and  the  proper. arguments  to  use  in  prayer.  INIoses 
gf-emed  not  so  much  pleading  for  himself  or  for  his  peo- 
ple, as  Jor  God.  Therefore  it  was  that  his  pleas,  based 
on  the  revealed  counsels  of  the  Almiglity  and  fidly  in 
sympathy  with  his  designs  and  with  his  glor}^,  took  liold 
of  the  lieai't  of  Jehovah  and  could  not  be  denied. 


354  TABERAH   AND   KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH. 


The  scenes  of  murmur Ing  and  lust ;  Taberah  and  Kihroth- 
hattaavah. 

These  transactions,  recorded  Num.  11,  seem  to  have' 
occurred  soon  after  the  people  moved  onward  from 
Sinai.  In  the  official  record  of  the  halting  stations 
on  their   march    from   Egypt  to  Canaan   (Num.   33), 

"  Kibroth-hattaavah  "  is  next  after  Sinai. The  name 

Taberah  does  not  designate  a  station,  but  simply  indi- 
cates the  remote  quarter  of  the  camp  where  the  fire  of 
the  Lord  broke  forth  upon  the  murmuring  people,  till 

in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Moses  it  was  quenched. 

The  particular  ground  of  this  murmuring  is  not  stated. 
Probably  it  was  the  general  hardships  of  their  wilder- 
ness life ;  a  shrinking  from  the  march  into  the  depths 
of  the  desert,  just  then  commenced. In  close  con- 
nection follows  an  account  of  a  more  serious  murmur- 
ing, begun  by  the  "mixed  multitude"  of  Egyptian  and 
miscellaneous  followers  of  whom  we  read  Ex.  12 :  38, 
but  into  which  the  men  of  Israel  were  drawn.  The 
ground  of  complaint  was  their  food.  They  were  tired 
of  their  manna  and  longed  for  the  vegetables  and  fish 
of  Egypt. At  this  point,  as  if  to  show  how  unreason- 
able their  complaints  were,  Moses  gives  a  full  account 
of  the  manna,  its  appearance,  the  way  of  preparing  it 
for  food,  and  of  its  flavor.     (See  wdrat  is  said  on  manna 

in    Ex.    16.) Moses    heard   the    complaints   of   the 

people  and  was  greatly  displeased.  Naturally  he  bore 
the  case  to  God  in  praj^er,  but  in  the  spirit  of  one 
whose  endurance  was  overtaxed  and  whose  nerves  were 
but  too  sensitive  to  his  burdens.  Noticeably  the  Lord 
does  not  rebuke  him,  but  very  kindly  provides  relief 
by  creating  a  council  of  seventy  elders  who  shall  help 
him  to  bear  his  responsibilities  for  the  people.  They 
were  to  be  endowed  with  a  measure  of  the  same  divine 
sjiirit  which  abode  with  him.  Having  received  this 
spirit  it  is  said  (v.  25)  that  they  "  prophesied,"  i.  e.  ex- 
horted, spake  under  the  divine  influence,  but  added  no 
more.  This  is  obviously  the  sense  of  our  Hebrew  text; 
and  not,  as  our  English  version  has  given  it — "  proj^h- 
esied  and  did  not  cease."  If  they  did  not  cease,  we 
might  expect  to  hear  more  of  what  they  said.  But  the 
word  used  by  Moses  is  decisive.     They  simply  ])rophe- 


MIRIAM  AND  AARON  JEALOUS  TOWARD  MOSES.         355 

s'ied  for  once  to  indicate  the  presence  of  the  spirit  with 

them,  and  added  no.  more. As  to  the  comphiining 

people,  God  answered  their  demands  with  such  a  snjD- 
ply  of  flesh  that  the  surfeit,  by  natural  law  or  other- 
wise, brought  upon  the  people  a  fearful  plague  from 
which  many  perished.  The  vast  graveyard  which  re- 
ceived the  dead  gave  name  to  this  memorable  station — 
Tlie  graves  of  Inst,  or  the  graves  of  the  lustful  oves.  The 
Lord  had  brought  up  to  them  quails  to  cover  the  whole 
region  about  their  camp  for  a  day's  journey  (twenty 
miles)  on  every  side  to  the  depth  of  two  cubits  (three 

feet). The   moral   of  the  case   is   Avell   put   by  the 

Psalmist :  "  He  gave  them  their  request,  but  sent  lean- 
ness into  their  soul."  (lOG:  15);  or  as  another  has  it: 
"He  gave  them  their  own  desire.  They  were  not  es- 
tranged from  their  lust,  for  while  their  meat  was  yet  in 
their  mouth,  the  wrath  of  God  came  upon  them  and 
slew  the  fattest  of  them  and  smote  down  the  chosen 
men  of  Israel  "  (Ps.  78:  2G-31). — There  is  danger  of  be- 
ing too  demanding  and  persistent  for  the  gratification  of 
any  appetite  of  j^assion,  lest  the  blessing  we  demand 
may  prove  a  curse.  Let  God's  wisdom  and  not  our  own 
imjjulses  be  our  guide,  and  rule  our  life. 

Miriam  and  Aaron  jealous  of  the  honor  given  to  Moses. 

In  Num.  12,  we  are  told  that  Miriam  and  Aaron 
speak  disparagingly  of  Moses  because  of  his  Ethiopian 
wife,  jealous  of  the  almost  exclusive  honor  shown  him 
by  the  Lord.  "  Hath  the  Lord  indeed  spoken  by  Moses 
only  ?  Hath  he  not  spoken  by  us  also  ?  " — Miriam  seems 
to  have  been  the  moving  spirit  in  this.  She  had  no 
special  love  or  even  respect  for  her  sister-in-law;  but 
had  more  than  enough  of  self-conceit  and  pride.  Per- 
haps she  thought  of  her  prominence  in  the  song  on  the 

hither  shore  of  the  Red  Sea  (Ex.  15). Remarkably 

Ave  find  here  this  verse  interposed :  ("  Now  the  man 
Moses  was  very  meek,  above  all  men  who  Avere  upon 

the  face  of  the  earth.") The  manner  in  which  this 

is  introduced  favors  the  supposition  that  it  came  from 
some  other  and  later  hand,  like  tlie  account  of  Moses' 
death  (Deut.  34  :  5-12).  Yet  it  is  impossible  either  to 
prove  or  disprove  this  supposition. 

It  is  plain  that  Moses  made  no  reply  to  Avhat  Miriam 


356     KADESH-BARXEA  AND  THE  UNBELIEVING  SPIES. 

said,  but  left  the  whole  matter  with  God.  His  Avork 
was  not  of  his  own  choosing  ;  his  high  position  came  to 
him  unsought.  The  event  showed  that  it  was  perfectly 
safe  for  him  to  leave  his  fair  name  and  his  high  position 
with  the  Lord.  For  the  Lord  soon  interposed:  "Moses 
is  more  than  a  prophet :  to  the  prophet  I  make  myself 
known  in  visions  or  speak  in  dreams ;  but  with  my  serv- 
ant Moses  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  and  the  very  simil- 
itude of  the  Lord  shall  he  behold :  Wherefore  then 
were  ye  not  afraid  to  speak  against  my  servant  Moses  "  ? 

All    suddenly   Miriam   is  leprous,  white  as  snow. 

The  quick  and  trained  eye  of  Aaron  detects  it,  and  he 
cries  out  to  Moses  for  pardon  and  help.  Moses,  alwa3^s 
the  man  of  prayer,  calls  upon  God  in  her  behalf  and  is 
heard.  After  seven  days'  exclusion  from  the  camp,  she 
returns  sound,  and  hopefully,  a  wiser  and  more  humble 
woman. 

Kadcsh-barnca  and  the  Unhclleving  Spies. 

In   Num.  13  and  14  stands  the  record  of  a  series  of 
events  of  exceedingly  vital  moment  to  the  children  of 

Israel. By  a  route  not  definitely  ascertainable  at  this 

distance  of  time,  they  had  come  (eleven  days'  journey 
Deut.  1 :  2)  from  Sinai  to  Kadesh-barnea  which  most 
critics  concur  in  locating  in  the  northern  jjart  of  the 
wilderness  of  Paran,  near  "  the  mountain  of  the  Amor- 
ites,"  and  also  near  the  southern  border  of  the  land  of 
Canaan.  Leaving  the  wilderness  of  Sinai  (Num.  10: 
12,  13)  "on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  second  month  of 
the  second  year"  [from  Egypt] ;  spending  at  least  one 
month  (Num.  11 :  20,  21)  at  Kibroth-hattaavah,  they 
were  supposably  about  two  years  out  from  Egypt  when 
the  question  came  up  the  second  time  whether  the 
people  were  prepared  to  march  into  the  land  of  Canaan. 
On  the  former  occasion,  as  we  have  seen  (Ex.  13 :  17, 
IS)  tlie  Lord  decided  this  question  at  once,  rejecting 
the  short  route  to  Canaan  and  heading  their  hosts 
through  the  wilderness,  because,  being  then  just  from 
bondage  in  Egypt,  they  were  in  no  condition,  physic- 
ally or  morally,  to  enter  Canaan. Now  at  Kadesh 

the  question  comes  up  again.  As  the  case  is  put  by 
Moses  (Deut.  1 :  22)  it  would  seem  that  the  people  sug- 
gested the  mission  of  the  spies :    "  Ye  came  near  unto 


KADESH-BARNEA  AND  THE  UNBELIEVING  SPIES        357 

me,  every  one  of  you,  and  said — We  will  send  men  be- 
fore us  and  they  shall  search  us  out  the  land  and  bring 
us  word  again  by  what  way  Ave  must  go  up  and  into 
what  city  we  shall  come.  And  the  saying  pleased  me 
well,  and  I  took  twelve  men,"  etc.  But  the  more  full 
account  in  Num.  13  ascribes  the  movement  to  the  Lord 
himself:  "The  Lord  spake  untolNIoses,  saying,  Send  thou 
men  that  they  may  search  the  land  of  Canaan"  (vs.  1,  2). 
This  is  probably  the  more  exact  account.  The  people 
however  heartily  concurred. Very  Avisely  the  ex- 
plorers designated  were  thoroughly  representative  men, 
•'heads  of  the  children  of  Israel,"  "everyone  a  ruler 
among  them."  T^ius  selected,  they  would  fairly  repre- 
sent the  moral  tone  of  the  people  on  the  great  point  of 
faith  or  unbelief;  and  moreover  were  men  reliable  as 

judges  of  the  country  and  of  the  people  of  Canaan. 

The  i^oints  which  they  Avere  to  investigate  and  report 
Avere  Avell  defined:  "To  see  the  land,  Avhat  it  is; 
whether  good  or  bad;  the  people,  Avhether  strong  or 
Aveak,  few  or  man}^;  Avhat  cities  they  dwell  in ;  Avhether 
in  tents  or  strongholds;  and  Avhether  the  land  be  fat 
or  lean ;  and  also"  (a  point  of  interest  to  men  so  long 
on  the  desert)  "  Avhether  there  be  Avood  therein  or  not." 

In  a  tour  of  forty  days  they  traversed  Canaan  to 

the  A'cry  northern  border  and  seem  so  far  to  have  done 
their  Avork  Avell.  It  being  the  time  of  first  ripe  grapes, 
they  brought   a   magnificent    specimen    cluster    from 

Eshcol,  so  large  as  to  be  borne  by  tAvo  men. Their 

report  made  tAvo  strongly  marked  points — that  the  land 
Avas  truly  "  floAving  with  milk  and  honey" — all  in  this 
rcsj^ect  that  they  could  desire ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
ten  of  their  number  concurred  in  saying  that  the  peo- 
ple Avere  strong;  their  cities  Availed  and  very  great,  and 
some  of  their  Avarriors,  men  of  Anak,  giants  of  stature, 
in  Avhose  sight  they  Avere  only  as  grasshoppers.  Their 
conclusion  Avas— "We  be  not  able  to  go  up  against  that 
people,  fur  they  are  stronger  than  we"  (Num.  13:  31). 

Tavo  of  the  spies— Caleb  representing  Judah  and 

Joshua  of  Ephraim — brought  in  a  minority  repoit,  dif- 
fering totally  in  the  one  only  vital  point,  viz.  Avhether 
Israel  Avere  able  to  drive  out  the  Canaanites  and  take 
possession  of  the  land.  Or,  more  fundamentally,  they 
based  their  conviction  upon  tlieir  faith  in  God ;  while 
the  men  of  the  majority  report  seem  to  have  made  not 


S58       KADESH-BARNEA  AND  THE  UNBELIEVING  SPIES. 

the  least  account  of  God's  help  in  the  case.  Caleb  and 
Joshua  said — "  The  land  is  exceedingly  good ;  and  if 
the  Lord  delight  in  us,  then  he  will  bring  us  into  this 
land  and  give  it  to  us;  only  rebel  not  ye  against  the 
Lord,  neither  fear  ye  the  people  of  the  land,  for  they 
are  bread  for  us ;  their  defense  is  departed  from  them, 

and  the  Lord  is  with  us ;  fear  them  not." Sad  to  say, 

these  considerations  fell  powerless  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  ten  unbelieving  spies,  and  also  upon  the  mass  of 
the  people.  "  All  the  people  murmured  against  Moses 
and  Aaron ;  the  whole  congregation  said  unto  them : 
Would  God  that  we  had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  or 

would  God  we  had  died  in  this  wilderness"! They 

even  proposed  to  "  make  themselves  a  captain  and  re- 
turn into  Egypt"! It  was  inevitable  that  the  Lord 

should  feel  himself  dishonored  and  even  insulted. 
"  How  long,"  said  he,  "  will  tliis  people  provoke  me  ? 
How  long  will  it  be  ere  they  believe  me  for  all  the 
signs  which  I  have  showed  among  them"?  And  again, 
referring  to  what  was  most  disheartening  and  cruel  of 
all :  "  Those  men  Avho  have  seen  my  glory  and  my  mir- 
acles Avhich  I  did  in  Egypt  and  in  the  wilderness,  and 
have  tempted  me  now  these  ten  times,  and  have  not 
obeyed  my  voice — they  shall  not  see  the  land  which  I 
sware  unto  their  fathers  to  give  them."  Ah,  they  had 
seen  all  the  plagues  on  Egypt ;  they  had  seen  Pharaoh's 
proud  host  buried  in  the  Red  Sea;  they  had  seen  Am- 
alek  smitten  before  Israel  while  the  hands  of  prayer 
were  upstayed  before  the  Lord — and  must  all  this  go 
for  nothing?  God  "bad  promised  to  give  them  Canaan; 
could  they  not  trust  him?  They  had  bound  them- 
selves by  most  solemn  covenant  to  follow  him  as  their 
king ;  and  shall  they  go  back  upon  this  great  covenant; 
make  another  captain;  and  return  to' their  old  bondage 
in  Egypt  ?  Alas,  for  such  treachery !  Alas,  that  they 
will  not  believe  in  God;  that  they  have  no  faith  in 
his  power  to  save  ;  and  apparently  no  faith  in  his  readi- 
ness to  attempt  it! 

Here  again  (as  after  the  sin  with  the  golden  calf) 
the  Lord  proposes  to  Moses  to  smite  this  whole  people 
with  pestilence,  and  then  make  of  his  posterity  a  nation 
greater  and  mightier  than  they  (Num.  14:  12).  But 
in  this  case  as  in  that,  Moses  listens  not  a  moment  to 
the  proposal  which  might  ssem  flattering  to  his  ambi- 


THE    UNBELIEVING   SPIEii.  .  359 

tion  if  he  had  any;  and  turns  his  plea  wholly  to  the 
point  of  God's  plory  before  the  nations : — What  will 
they  say  of  him  if  he  abandons  this  whole  people  as  if 
in  despair  ? It  was  Avell  understood  that  he  had  prom- 
ised to  bring  them  into  Canaan ;  what  will  they  say  if 
he  fails  to  do  it  ?  How  will  it  bear  upon  the  name  and 
the  fame  of  Almighty  God  if  the  nations  are  left  to 
say — "  Because  the  Lord  icas  not  able  to  bring  this  peo- 
I)le  into  the  land  which  he  sware  unto  them,  therefore 

he  hath  slain  them  in  the  wilderness." To  this,  Moses 

adds  an  appeal  to  that  blessed  7ia77ie  which  the  Lord  had 
given  him  on  the  former  occasion  : — Let  the  power  of 
my  Lord  be  great  according  as  thou  hast  spoken,  say- 
ing :  "  The  Lord  is  long-suffering  and  of  great  mercy, 
forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression.  0  pardon  thou 
the  iniquity  of  this  people  according  unto  the  greatness 
of  thy  mercy  and  as  thou  hast  forgiven  this  people  from 

Egypt  until  now." To  this  prayer  the  Lord  promptly 

answers  :  "  I  have  pardoned  according  to  thy  Avord ;  ])ut 
as  truly  as  I  live,  all  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  " — (i.  e.  with  the  glory  of  his  righteous 
justice) ;  for  of  all  those  men  who  have  seen  my  glory 
and  my  miracles  in  Egypt  and  in  the  wilderness,  and 
yet  have  not  believed  in  me  at  all,  but  have  utterly  dis- 
honored my  name,  not  one  shall  enter  into  the  land  of 
promise.  March  them  back  into  this  great  and  dreary 
wilderness ;  let  them  wander  there  forty  years — as  many 
years  as  they  have  spent  days  in  searching  out  the  land 
of  Canaan.  So  let  their  judgment  perpetually  remind 
them  of  their  sin,  till  all  that  unbelieving  generation, 
old  enough  to  bear  moral  responsibility  for  this  unbe- 
lief, have  fallen  in  the  wilderness. Then  their  chil- 
dren who,  thc}^  said,  would  fall  before  the  sword  of  the 
Canaanites,  shall  go  into  tlie  land,  drive  out  those  men 
of  Canaan,  and  possess  the  goodly  land  of  promise. 

The  ten  unbelieving  spies  perish  at  once  by  the  plague 
before  the  wrath  of  God.  The  people  Avere  sorely  dis- 
tressed by  this  decision.  Some  of  them  rushed  at  once 
to  the  mad  extreme  of  marching  unbidden  against  the 
Canaanites — only  to  be  smitten  before  them. 

Thus  issued  this  sad  case  of  strange,  cruel  unbelief. 
The  conquest  of  Canaan  was  postponed  almost  forty 
years;  the  generation  of  twenty  years  and  over  when 
they  came  out  from  Egypt  were  doomed  to  fruitless  wan- 


360  REBELLION   OF   KORAII   AND    COMPANY. 

dering  and  an  early  death  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  that 
nation  and  the  world  had  one  more  lesson  on  the  wisdom 
of  believing  God,  and  on  the  infinite  folly  as  well  as 

guilt  of  refusing  to  believe  and  trust  the  Lord. Moses 

(in  Deut.  1 :  19-46)  gives  a  somewhat  full  recapitulation 
of  these  scenes.  In  Ps.  90  he  puts  in  the  form  of  sacred 
song  his  meditation  and  prayer  on  this  sad  yet  most 
instructive  event. 

The  Rebellion  of  Korah  and  his  Compaiiy. 

During  the  period  of  thirty-seven  years  intervening 
between  the  scenes  at  Kadesh  last  noted  and  the  return 
to  Kadesh  in  the  last  3^ear  of  the  wandering,  one  event 
of  most  signal  and  solemn  moment  occurred,  viz.  the 
rebellion  of  Korah  and  his  company,  recorded  Num.  16, 
and  referred  to  Num.  26 :  9-11.  The  leaders  were  Korah 
of  "the  tribe  of  Levi,  a  near  relative  of  Moses,  and  Dathan, 
Abiram,  and  On,  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben ; — the  former 
ambitious  of  the  distinction  enjoyed  by  Moses  and 
Aaron,  and  doubtless  believing  himself  at  least  equally 
capable  and  worthy;  the  latter  prolxably  restive  under 
the  loss  of  that  pre-eminence  which  was  normally  con- 
ceded to  the  first-born.  Associated  with  them  were  two 
hundred  and  fifty  leading  men  of  the  tribes,  not  other- 
wise distinctly  designated.  The  movement  thus  as- 
sumed formidable  proportions  in  the  outset.  They  seem 
to  have  demanded  that  Moses  and  Aaron  should  retire 
from  office  and  give  place  to  themselves;  or  at  least  that 
they  should  resign  and  open  the  way  for  another  election 

by  the  people. pMoses  wisely  referred  this  matter  at 

once  to  the  Lord.  Let  him  say  who  shall  be  the  Leader 
of  this  people,  and  who  shall  come  near  before  him  as 
High  Priest.  Take  you,  said  he,  ever}^  man  his  censer 
and  put  fire  therein,  and  come  before  the  Lord.     Let 

him  pass  upon  this  great  question. Expostulating 

with  Korah,  he  said,  Should  it  not  suffice  you  that  God 
has  given  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  special  responsibili- 
ties and  honors?  Why  should  ye  murmur  against 
Aaron  because  the  Lord  hath  chosen  him  to  lead  in  the 

most  holy  services? TheReubenite  faction,  resisting 

the  summons  of  Moses,  stood  otT  obstinately.  With 
falsehood  and  insult  they  arraign  Moses  upon  two  grave 
charges:  (a.)  that  he  had  brought  them  out  of  a  land 


REBELLION  OP  KORAH  AND  COMPANY.      361 

of  plenty  to  kill  them  in  the  wilderness;  and  (b.)  had 
utterly  failed  to  bring  them  into  a  land  of  plenty  as  he 
had  promised.  And  now,  said  they,  "wilt  thou  put  out 
the  eyes  of  these  men"?     Wilt  thou  dupe  them  and 

lead  them  on  blind-fold  to  their  utter  ruin  ? -These 

were  cutting  charges.  Moses  was  indignant.  Appeal- 
ing to  God  he  said,  "  Respect  not  thou  their  offering.  I 
have  not  taken  one  ass  from  them,  neither  have  I  hurt 

one  of  them." Again  Moses  refers  the  decision  of  the 

great  question  to  God.  "  The  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared 
(we  read)  unto  all  the  congregation."  Inasmuch  as  the 
pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  was  always  visible  to  the  peo- 
ple, we  must  suppose  that  on  this  occasion  these  words 

imply  an  unusual  brilliancy — a  blaze  of  glory. The 

first  words  from  the  August  Presence  indicated  the  di- 
vine purpose  :  "Stand  ye  aloof  from  those  rebels;  sepa- 
rate yourselves  from  that  whole  congregation  that  I 
may  consume  them  in  a  moment"!  Suddenly  Moses 
and  Aaron  are  on  their  faces  in  supplication  that  God 
would  stay  his  hand;  for  they  seem  to  have  feared  a 
most  sweeping  judgment.  "  Shall  one  man  sin  "  (said 
they)  "  and  wilt  thou  be  wroth  with  all  the  congrega- 
tion "  ?  Promptly  the  Lord  replied :  Give  orders  to  the 
people  to  withdraw  from  the  tents  of  those  leading  rebels 
as  they  would  escape  their  doom.  They  did  so,  leaving 
only  the  leaders  and  their  households  in  their  tents, 
awaiting  the  result — with  what  feelings  and  anticipa- 
tions we  know  not.  Whether  their  impudent  hardihood 
failed  them  and  terror  seized  upon  them,  or  whether 
they  stood  boldly  or  stupidly,  awaiting  the  issue,  noth- 
ing is  said  to  show. With  words  inspired  of  God, 

Moses  put  the  great  question  of  God's  choice  of  Leader 
upon  its  decision :  "  If  those  men  die  only  the  common 
death  of  mortals,  the  Lord  hath  not  sent  me;  but  if  the 
Lord  create  a  new  creation  [Heb.],  i.  e.  work  a  miracle ; 
do  something  outside  the  course  of  nature ;  if  the  earth 
open  and  swallow  up  those  men  alive  and  all  that  ap- 
pertain to  them,  then  ye  shall  understand  that  these 
men  have  provoked  the  Lord." With  not  one  mo- 
ment's delay,  as  the  last  word  fell  from  _ his  lips,  the 
earth  opened  her  mouth  beneath  tlieir  feet  and  they 
went  down  into  that  awful  grave,  and  the  earth  closed 
over  them!  They  perished  from  among  the  congrega- 
tion.    Their  place  was  thenceforth  vacant  fa^'ever! " 


562  REBELLION   OF   KOEAH   AND   COMPANY. 

Significantly  it  is  added  "  all  Israel  that  were  round 
about  them  fled  at  the  cry  of  them  " — those  shrieks  of 
awful  horror  as  they  went  down  thrilled  the  whole  peo- 
ple with  terror  and  they  fled  from  the  scene ;  for  they 
said,  "  Lest  the  earth  swallow  up  us  also." 

It  seems  almost  incredible  that  after  such  a  scene  of 
holy  judgment  on  guilty  rebels  and  of  such  consterna- 
tion upon  the  whole  people,  we  read,  that  on  the  morrow 
all  the  congregation  murmuredagainst  Moses  and  Aaron, 
saying,  "  Ye  have  killed  the  people  of  the  Lord."  This, 
although  their  prayer  had  saved  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple (v.  22);  this,  although  the  hand  of  God  only  and  of 
no  mortal  man  had  wrought  their  destruction ;  this, 
although  they  had  seen  the  whole  transaction  and  fled 

in  horror  lest  God  swallow  them  up  also  ! It  should 

not  surprise  us  that  the  Avrath  of  the  Lord  broke  forth 
against  them  and  the  plague  began.  Moses  cried  to 
Aaron  to  take  a  censer  with  incense  (the  symbol  of 
prayer)  and  run  in  among  the  people,  waving  his  cen- 
ser between  the  living  and  the  dead.  Only  so  was  the 
plague  staj-ed.     Yet  fourteen  thousand  seven  hundred 

fell  in  that  fearful  judgment. We  are  simply  amazed 

at  the  perverseness  and  folly  of  many  of  that  Hebrew 
peojDle.  "  How  often  "  and  with  what  sti-ange  infatua- 
tion "  did  they  provoke  their  God  in  the  wilderness  and 
grieve  him  in  the  desert "  !  (Ps.  78  :  40.) 

The  next  chapter  (Num.  17)  records  a  special  test  to 
show  which  of  the  twelve  tribes  the  Lord  had  chosen 
for  the  priesthood.  Each  tri-be  brought  forward  its  sev- 
eral rod;  Aaron's  among  them  for  the  tribe  of  Levi. 
All  were  laid  up  before  the  Lord  for  one  night  only. 
In  the  morning  Aaron's  rod  had  blossomed  and  was 
bearing  fruit ;  all  the  others  were  still  dry  sticks ! 
Aaron's  was  thenceforth  laid  up  in  the  most  holy 
place — a  perpetual  memorial  of  God's  choice  of  Aaron 
and  his  family  for  the  priesthood. 

If  it  be  asked  by  tchat  means  were  Korah  and  his  com- 
pany destroyed?  Were  the  common  agenoies  of  earth- 
quake employed  in  this  case  ?  Or  was  the  effect  pro- 
duced by  the  divine  fiat  with  no  intervening  force  of 
imprisoned  steam  or  explosive  gases?  All  I  can  reply 
is  that  the  record  says  nothing  on  this  point  whatever. 
The  agencies  common  in  earthquakes  have  produced 


THE  FIERY  SERPENTS  AND  THE  BRAZEN  ONE.         363 

simiLar  results  often  in  the  world's  history.  If  the  Lord 
saw  fit  he  could  have  brought  those  agencies  into  action 
at  precisely  that  moment;  or  he  might  have  produced 
the  result  miraculously  with  no  intervening  physical 
agency.  It  would  be  the  Lord's  hand  in  either  case. 
The  question  which  method  God  employed  in  this  case 
is  of  no  practical  consequence  whatever,  and  can  never 
be  decided  save  by  a  special  revelation  from  himself. 

The  events  of  history  beginning  with  Num.  20  fall 
within  the  last  of  the  forty  years  of  wandering.  This 
date  is  obtained  indirectly  from  the  death  of  Aaron 
which  is  recorded  at  the  close  of  this  chapter  (vs.  22-29) 
and  was  connected  with  its  events.  It  is  definitely 
dated  (Num.  33 :  38)  in  the  fortieth  year  from  Egypt  on 
the  first  day  of  the  fifth  month. 

Of  the  murmuring  for  water  during  this  sojourn  in 
Kadesh  and  the  sad  rebuke  of  the  Lord  upon  Moses,  I 
have  spoken  in  connection  with  the  scenes  at  Rephidini 
(Ex.  17 :  1-7). 

The  Fiery  Serpents  and  tJie  Brazen  One. 

On  the  journey  from  Mt.  Hor,  compassing  the  land 
of  Edom,  the  people  became  "much  discouraged  be- 
cause of  the  way."  Travelers  represent  this  route  as 
abounding  unusually  in  the  discomforts  of  the  desert. 
So  Israel,  weary,  foot-sore,  often  suffering  for  water,  not 
satisfied  with  their  manna — murmured  both  against 
Moses  and  against  God.  The  Lord  sent  fiery  serpents 
among  them :  many  were  bitten  and  died.  Burning 
serpents,  the  original  calls  them,  with  reference  to  the 
virulent  poison  of  their  bite  and  the  fiery  inflamma- 
tion which  ensued.  When  Moses  cried  to  the  Lord  for 
help,  he  was  told  to  make  a  brazen  serpent  and  suspend 
it  high  upon  a  pole,  with  the  promise  that  any  man, 
bitten  of  a  serpent  and  looking  up  to  this  brazen  one, 
should. live.  Thus  relief  required  as  its  condition  this 
act  of  obedience  and  of  faith  toward  God. 

The  chief  interest  in  this  scene  turns  upon  its  ac- 
knowledged and  undeniable  character  as  a  type  of 
Christ.  The  type  (resemblance)  includes  two  distinct 
ix)ints:  the  lifting  up;  and  the  ^oo^-m^/ with  its  results 
of  salvation.     The  evangelist  John  (3:  14,  15)  has  them 


364  BALAK   AND   BALAAJF. 

both :  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up;  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
eternal  life."  In  two  several  cases  Jesus  spake  of  him- 
self as  being  ''lifted  up,'^  with  manifest  reference  to  this 
historic  scene  in  the  wilderness.  "  When  ye  have  lifted 
up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am  he" 
(John  8 :  28).  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  That  his  readers  might 
not  miss  his  meaning,  the  Evangelist  explains:  "This 
he  said,  signifying  what  death  he  should  die"  (Jn.  12 : 
32).  Hence  it  is  plain  that  Christ  recognized  the 
brazen  serpent  as  a  special  type  of  himself  to  the  point 

of  the  manner  of  his  death.- It  is  not  less  so  in  the 

second  point — looking,  the  condition  of  living.  Nothing 
can  better  rejoresent  the  simple  act  of  faith  than  look- 
ing. In  looking,  there  is  a  turning  of  the  mind  toward 
the  object;  and  there  is  some  degree  of  expectation. 
There  may  he  inexpressible  longings.  We  must  assume 
such  longings  in  the  case  of  the  bitten,  suffering,  dying 

Israelite  in  the  desert. So  let  sinners,  stung  with  a 

terrible  consciousness  of  guilt,  borne  down  with  a  sense 
of  want  and  woe  and  ruin,  look  with  longing  heart  to 
the  uplifted  Lamb  of  God ;  yea  to  Jesus  considered  as 
lifted  up  in  the  agonies  of  a  vicarious  death — dying  for 
us  that  we  might  live.  "  There  is  life  in  such  looking! 

Balak  and  Balaam. 

• 

In  Num.  22-24  stands  a  very  unique  history.  The 
two  prominent  characters  are  Balak,  king  of  Moab,  and 
Balaam,  a  renowned  diviner,  magician  from  the  East. 

Moab,  descended  genealogically  from  Lot,  was  not 

among  the  doomed  nations  of  Canaan,  and  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  Israelites,  provided  only  that  she 
neither  blocked  their  march  nor  seduced  them  into 
idol-worship.  But  Moab,  both  people  and  king,  were 
"  sore  afraid  of  Israel  because  they  were  many,"  and 
because  they  had  smitten  Sihon  of  the  Amorites  and 
Og  of  Bashan,  and  had  taken  possession  of  their  re- 
spective countries.  The  near  proximity  of  such  a  host, 
marching  and  encamping  with  military  precision,  fed 
as  no  other  people  in  that  wilderness  Avere  ever  fed; 
invincible  in   arms  when    their  God  was  with  them, 


BALAK   AND    BALAAM.  365 

and  bearing  the  prestige  of  victory  over  Pharaoh  and 
Amalek  and  the  Amorites,  was  very  naturally  the  occa- 
sion of  no  small  alarm.  Balak  had  seen  and  heard  enough 
to  convince  him  that  the  unseen  power  of  some  God  was 
in"  these  strange  facts  of  their  history.  Unfortunately 
he  did  not  know  enough  of  the  true  God — the  real 
God  of  Israel— to  see  that  he  could  be  none  other  than 
tlie  One  Infinite  God,  and  therefore  that  resistance 
against  him  and  his  people  was  necessarily  and  utterly 
vain.  His  theology  was  doubtless  of  the  type  common 
among  all  the  nations  of  antiquity,  not  blessed  with 
the  light  of  revelation,  viz.  polj^theism — gods  in  un- 
known numbers;  each  nation  having  its  own,  one  or 
many — so  that  the  contest  ft)r  mastery  between  hostile 
nations  was  supposed  to  turn  on  the  question  which 

had   the  mightiest  gods  for  their  help. With  this 

theolog}',  Balak's  policy  was  soon  determined  upon,  viz. 
to  send  for  the  most  renowned  diviner  of  the  ancient 
East,  and  match  the  prestige  of  his  divination  and  of 
his  curse  against  the  blessings  which  the  God  of  Is- 
rael was  conferring  upon  his  peoj^le.  He  understood 
well  that  the  strength  of  Israel  lay  in  the  strength  of 
her  God.  There  was  miracle  there — superhuman  aid 
coming  in  from  a  higher  Power;  and  he  had  no  idea 
of  any  thing  which  he  could  bring  into  the  field  against 
this  save  the  most  potent  divination  and  magic.  So  he 
sent  for  Balaam  to  come  and  curse  Israel. 

Concerning  Balaam ;  his  residence,  his  previous  and 
subsequent  history,  and  his  personal  character,  we  have 
(outside  of  Num.  22-24)  three  references  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament and  the  same  number  in  the  New;  viz.  Num. 
81 :  8,  and  Deut.  23  :  4,  and  Josh.  13  :  22 :— 2  Pet.  2  :  15, 
16,  and  Jude  11,  and  Rev.  2  :  14.  [The  reference  to  both  ' 
Balak  and  Balaam  in  Micah  6:  5  adds  nothing  to  their 
history.]  These  passages  locate  Balaam  among  the 
Midianites  (Num.  31 :  8);  in  Pethor  (Num.  22:  5);  in 
Aram  (Num.  23  :  7) ;  and  in  Mesopotamia  (Deut.  23  :  4). 
The  Old  Testament  passages  describe  him  as  a  sooth- 
sayer, practicing  divination  for  reward.  The  New  Tes- 
tament writers  go  to  the  bottom  of  his  character  and 
represent  him  as  "  loving  the  wages  of  unrighteousness; 
rebuked  for  his  ini(;[uity,  the  dumb  ass,  speaking  witli 
man's  voice  forbade  the  madness  of  the  prophet  "  (2 
Pet.  2 :  15,  16).     Tliey  speak  of  "  going  after  the  error 


866  BALAK   AND   BALAAM. 

of  Balaam  for  reward  "  (Jude  11),  and  of  him  as  one  who 
"tanght  Balak  to  cast  a  stumbling-block  before  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  eat  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and 

to  commit  fornication  "  (Rev.  2  :   14). Further,  we 

are  told  (Num.  31 :  8  and  Josh.  13 :  22)  that  he  was 
found  among  the  Midianites — enemies  of  God's  people, 
and  slain  with  the  sword. 

The  narrative  by  Moses  (Num.  22-24)  informs  us  very 
minutely  how  Balak  sent  and  brought  Balaam  to  curse 
Israel,  but  failed  in  every  endeavor ;  how  he  plied  him 
with  munificent  rewards  and  royal  honors,  but  God 
would  not  let  Balaam  curse  Israel,  much  as  he  might 
have  wished  to  do  so ;  how  Balak  took  his  man  to  one 
mountain  summit  and  another  and  another  to  show  him 
this  strange  people,  superstitiously  hoping  to  break  the 
spell  of  his  purpose  to  bless;  but  all  in  vain. 

The  history  taken  in  whole  shows  that  Balaam  was 
a  godless  man ;  that  he  exceedingly  desired  to  please 
Balak  and  get  his  money,  but  that  God  would  not  let 
him.  His  is  perhaps  a  solitary  case  to  show  that  the 
Lord  can  (v>fhen  he  pleases)  give  some  really  prophetic 
visions  to  an  ungodly  man,  and  yet  hold  him  so  firmly 
under  control  that  no  harm  can  come  of  a  wicked 
prophet. 

Some  points  in  this  case  deserve  special  examination. 

In  the  passage  (Num.  22  :  9-35)  it  appears  that  God 

positively  forbade  Balaam's  going  at  all,  yet  that  the 
second  embassy,  greater  in  number  and  of  nobler  rank 
and  offering  richer  pay  (v.  15)  touched  Balaam  in  his 
most  sensitive  point  and  made  him  long  to  go.  So  he 
told  the  men  to  tarry  and  he  w^ould  see  if  he  could  get 
permission.  According  to  the  record  (v.  20)  the  Lord 
said  to  him  that  night :  "  If  the  men  come  to  call  thee, 
rise  up  and  go  with  them  " ;  yet  the  real  meaning  must 
be — If  you  loill  go,  and  if  my  prohibition  avails  nothing, 
go ;  but  do  wdien  there  according  to  my  word.  Balaam 
was  glad  to  go ;  but  "  God's  anger  was  kindled  because 
he  went  "  (v.  22) — a  fact  which  shows  very  clearly  what 
sort  of  permission  God  had  given  him.  It  can  not  well 
."ie  doubted  that  Balaam  knew  he  was  going,  contrary 
to  the  real  mind  of  the  Lord;  for  Avhen  did  the  Lord 
over  give  a  real  permission,  and  then  kindle  into  anger 
because  his  permission  was  accepted?  Or  when  did  lio 
ever  leave  an  honest  inquirer  after  the  way  of  duty  to 


Balaam's  prophecies.  367 

follow  his  supposed  permission  and  then  take  such 
offense  as  in  this  case  at  Avhat  Avas  in  its  purpose  true 

obedience  ? Yet   while  God  always  deals   honestly 

with  the  honest  inquirer  after  his  will,  he  may  some- 
times, both  in  word  and  in  providence,  let  men  who 
love  their  own  Avill  better  than  his  take  their  course 
and  bear  their  own  responsibilities.  Such  I  take  to 
have  been  the  Lord's  policy  in  this  case. 

The  record  sets  forth  that  God  used  the  ass  on  which 
Balaam  rode  to  "rebuke  with  man's  voice  the  madness 
of  the  prophet."  The  ass  saw  Avhat  Balaam's  dull  eye 
saw  not — the  angel  of  the  Lord  with  drawn  sword, 
heading  him  in  his  way — a  fact  strikingly  suggestive 
of  his  dull  vision  in  regard  to  comprehending  the  spirit 
of  that  apparent  permission  which  the  Lord  gave  him 
to  go.  Why  did  he  not  see  that  he  was  led  on,  not  by 
God's  will,  but  by  his  own  cupidity,  his  own  intense 
and  over-mastering  covetousness?  Alas  for  him;  the 
eye  of  his  ass  could  see  what  his  cultured  intellect 
could  not  discern — that  God  was  squarel}'  against  him. 
It  was  moreover  fully  the  Lord's  purpose,  if  Balaam 
would  go,  to  hold  him  back  from  Balak's  influence  and 
compel  him  to  bless  Israel.  This  renewed,  special 
charge  on  this  point  seems  to  have  been  one  object  in  this 
remarkable  meeting  of  the  angel,  Balaam  and  his  ass. 

Does  any  one  ask — Ho^u  could  an  ass  speak  Avith  man's 
voice  ?  Were  real  words  uttered,  words  which  any  other 
ears  within  hearing  could  have  heard  as  well  as  Ba- 
laam's ?  Or  was  it  simply  a  miraculous  sensation  upon 
his  ear,  having  no  cause  whatever  in  the  mouth  of  the 
ass? 1  answer:  It  is  of  small  avail  to  push  such  in- 
quiries. We  can  say  wisely  but  two  things  :-  -(a.)  That 
God  could  work  a  miracle  as  easily  in  one  of  these  Avays 
as  in  the  other: — and  (b.)  Therefore  the  method  Avhich 
the  description  most  naturally  suggests  is  the  most 
probable ;  viz.  that  the  ass  spake  audible  Avords,  and 
Balaam  heard  them  as  men  are  wont  to  hear  Avords 
audibly  spoken. 

The  points  of  real  prophecy  in  Balaam's  visions 
should  be  noticed. 

Observe  that  in  each  case,  before  Balaam  inquired  of 
God  he  directed  Balak  to  prepare  seven  altars  and  to 
offer  upon  each  one  bullock  and  one  ram.     The  object 


368  Balaam's  rROPHEciEs. 

in  this  seems  to  have  been  to  propitiate  the  Lord  and 
secure  his  favorable  consideration.  It  is  remarkable 
that  Balaam,  coming  from  the  region  of  the  Euphrates, 
should  have  these  ideas  as  to  the  sacrifice  of  clean  ani- 
mals. The  fact  seems  to  show  that  the  idea  of  animal 
sacrifices  was  revealed  to  the  race  in  its  infancy  and 
that  it  prevailed  extensively  over  the  Eastern  world. 

The  offerings  having  been  made,  Balaam  retired  to 
"an  high  place"  (23:  3)  as  our  version  puts  it,  but 
really  to  a  hill  of  bare,  naked  summit  to  await  the 
Lord's  presence  and  word  there.  [Such  a  summit  was 
chosen  for  its  range  of  view].  The  Lord  came  and 
gave  him  his  word  for  Balak,  put  thus:  "Balak,  the 
king  of  Moab,  hath  brought  me  from  Aram,  out  of  the 
mountains  of  the  East,  saying  :  '  Come,  curse  me,  Jacob; 
come,  defy  [in  the  sense  only  of  curse,  maledict]  Israel. 
How  shall  I  curse  whom  Qxod  hath  not  cursed?  Or 
how  shall  I  defy  whom  God  hath  not  defied  "  ?  [How 
can  I  gainsay  the  Almighty;  how  j)ut  my  word  against 
his?     Balak  asks  this  of  me  :  I  have  no  power  to  do  it]. 

"  From  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him,  and  from  the 

hills  I  behold  him:  lo!  the  people  shall  dwell  alone 

and  shall  not  be  reckoned   among   the  nations." 

From  his  naked  mountain  top  Balaam  saw  their  en- 
campment spread  out  before  him ;  there  they  were,  a 
peculiar,  secluded  jDeople,  having  neither  political, 
social,  or  religious  connection  with  any  other  nation 
under  heaven.  In  this  most  salient  feature  of  their 
case  Balaam  saw  a  symbol  of  their  whole  future  his- 
tory— dwelling  alone,  a  scattered  people,  never  reck- 
oned as  being  of  or  like  any  other  nation  of  the  earth. 

Their  great  numbers  also  were  proi)hetic  of  their 

prosperous  future :  "  Who  can  count  the  dust  of  Jacob, 
and  the  number  of  the  fourth  j^art  of  Israel "  ? — the  ref- 
erence to  a  "fourth  part"  coming  of  the  fact  that  their 

encampment  was  in  four  parts,  three  tribes  to  each. 

His  closing  words  are  weighty:  "Let  me  die  the  death 

of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

In  interpreting  these  words  I  can  by  no  means  assent 
to  the  view  of  many  commentators  (largely  German) 
who  suppose  Balaam  had  no  ideas  of  a  happy  future 
life,  it  being  as  they  maintain  far  too  early  in  the 
progress  of  religious  thought  for  any  such  ideas.  They 
therefore  restrict  his  meaning  to  a  hajjpy  earthly  life, 


Balaam's  prayer.  869 

prosperous  even  to  its  natural  end  in  death. 1  have 

no  faith  in  such  interpretations.  They  do  not  come  by 
any  fair  construction  from  the  text.  What  Balaam 
said  -was:  "Let  my  soul  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
and  let  my  after  destiny  be  like  his,"  After  destiny — 
the  afterpart  of  ni}''  existence,  is  the  legitimate  sense  of 

the  word  here  used. Besides,  to  pray  that  I  may  die 

of  the  same  disease,  at  the  same  age,  amid  the  same 
surroundings,  as  the  righteous,  is  very  tame,  is  a  very 
insignificant  blessing  at  best,  and  no  sensible  man 
could  put  his  soul  very  earnestly  into  such  a  prayer. 
I  see  no  reason  why  Ave  should  emasculate  the  prayer 
even  of  a  Balaam  in  this  style.  Let  us  rather  say  that 
he  prayed  like  one  "  Avhose  eyes  were  open ;  who  had 
lieard  the  words  of  God  and  knew  the  knowledge  of  the 
most  High  and  saw  the  vision  of  the  Almighty  "  (24 : 

15,  16)  as  he  himself  said. As  to  toning  down  the 

sense  of  his  words  because  their  Christian  construction 
would  be  so  far  in  advance  of  the  age,  I  can  not  accejit 
the  assumed  fact  that  they  were  in  advance  of  the  age. 
I  can  not  believe  that  Enoch,  "  walking  with  God"  and 
translated  to  heaven  knew  nothing  of  heaven  until  he 
found  himself  there ;  or  that  Noah  whose  faith  and 
whose  preaching  of  righteousness  breasted  the  wicked- 
ness of  that  whole  generation  had  no  thoughts  as  to  the 
blessed  world  to  come ;  nor  that  Abraham's  faith  was 
limited  to  the  hills  and  to  the  corn  and  wine  of  Canaan 
and  had  i^ever  an  outlook  of  longing  desire  and  assured 
hope  of  a  "  better  country  even  an  heavenly  one  "  (Heb. 
11:  16);  nor  that  Moses,  "esteeming  reproach  for 
Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt,"  had 
no  ^^  respect  to  the  [future]  recompense  of  reward."  The 
writer  to  the  Hebrews  reasons  far  better  than  the  Neo- 
logical  critics  as  to  the  faith  and  the  hopes  of  those  glo- 
rious patriarchs.  I  find  my  sense  of  fitness  and  my 
convictions  of  truth  far  better  met  in  his  reasoning 
than  in  their  speculations. 

Let  it  be  noted  that  Balaam  spake  as  one  versed  in 
moral  distinctions.  He  understood  that  the  blessed  fu- 
ture life  falls  to  the  lot,  not  of  the  wicked  but  of  tlie 
righteous.  When  a  man  comes  so  near  to  God  as  he 
seems  to  have  done  in  these   hours,  this  distinction 

must  be  seen  and  felt. That  this  most  appropriate 

prayer  should  have  proved  in  his  case  utterly  unavail- 


370  Balaam's  trophecies. 

ing  is  a  sad  and  mournful  fact  to  ^Yhicll  we  must  give 
some  attention  in  its  place. 

Balak  was  by  no  means  pleased  with  Balaam's  "  par- 
able." Indeed  he  retorts  sharply :  "  What  hast  thou 
done  to  me?  I  sent  for  thee  and  was  to  pay  thee  to 
curse  that  people,  and  now  thou  hast  blessed  them  al- 
together"— with    blessings  and  nothing    else. But 

Balak  proposes  to  try  again.  Perhaps  if  the  great 
soothsayer  shall  see  them  from  the  top  of  Pisgah,  he 
may  get  a  different  view  and  may  utter  the  much  de- 
sired imprecation  upon  them.  The  same  process  is 
gone  through,  of  burnt-offerings  and  of  withdrawing  for 
a  private  "interview  with  God;  after  which  Balak 
eagerly  inquires  :  "  What  has  the  Lord  spoken  "  now  ? 
Has  he  changed  his  mind  ?     lias  he  given  you  leave  to 

curse  the  Hebrew  people? The  answer  is  pertinent 

and  very  decided,  bin  not  anj^  more  to  his  mind  than 
the  former  : — "  God  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie,  nor 
the  son  of  man  that  he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said, 
and  shall  he  not  do  it?  or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he 
not  make  it  good?  Behold,  I  have  received  command- 
ment to  bless ;  and  he  hath  blessed,  and  I  can  not  re- 
verse it.  He  hath  not  beheld  iniquity  in  Jacob,  neither 
hath  he  seen  perverseness  in  Israel ;  the  Lord  his  God 
is  Avith  him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king  is  among  them. 
God  brought  them  out  of  Egypt;  he  has  as  it  were  the 
strength  of  a  unicorn.  Surely  there  is  no  enchantment 
against  Jacob,  neither  is  theix  any  divination  against 
Israel ;  according  to  this  time  it  shall  be  said  of  Jacob 
and  of  Israel,  What  hath  God  wrought  ?  Behold,  the 
people  shall  rise  up  as  a  great  lion,  and  lift  up  himself 
as  a  young  lion ;  he  shall  not  lie  down  until  he  eat  of 
the  prey,  and  drink  the  blood  of  the  slain  "  (Num.  23: 
19-24). 

At  this  point  of  time  Israel  was  on  the  threshold  of 
Canaan.  Sihon  and  Og  had  fallen.  The  spirit  of  a 
pure  and  vigorous  faith  in  God  was  never  more  thor- 
oughly national  than  in  this  generation.  As  between 
Moab  and  Israel,  the  contrast  Avas  never  greater.  God's 
people  as  seen  by  his  prophetic  eye  were  on  the  eve  of 
sublime  victories.  No  enchantment  or  divination  could 
have  force  against  them.  That  was  the  era  in  their 
history  when  it  might  fitly  become  a  standing  exclama- 
tion :--"  What  hath  God  wrought"  ? 


BALAAMS   PROPHECIES.  371 

•  Worse  and  worse  for  Balak.  Curiously  his  next  ef- 
fort is  to  shut  Bakiam's  mouth  altogether.  Since  he 
can  not  get  from  him  curses  against  Israel,  he  begs  him 
to  hold  still  and  not  bless  them.     "  Neither  curse  them 

at  all,  nor  bless  them  at  all." Balaam  replied:  "Did 

I  not  say  to  thee,  All  that  the  Lord  speaketh,  that  I 

must  do"? -But   Balak    has  not    j^et   lost  all  hope. 

Perhaps  it  was  of  the  Lord  rather  than  of  his  hope  how- 
ever that  he  is  in  for  another  trial — this  time  "on  the 
top  of  Peor  that  looketh  toward  Jeshimon."  Great 
faith  he  must  have  had  in  the  prestige  of  new  points 

of  vision — of  other  mountain   tops. The  altars  are 

set  up;  the  bullocks  and  rams  are  offered  as  before. 
But  in  one  respect  the  course  of  events  changes. 
"  When  Balaam  saw  that  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bless 
Israel,  he  went  not  as  at  other  times  to  seek  for  en- 
chantments, but  set  his  face  toward  the  Avilderness;" — 
which  seems  to  imply  that  on  the  two  former  occasions 
he  had  pursued  his  usual  methods  of  divination  to  ob- 
tain messages  from  the  spirit-world,  but  now  changed 
his  course,  and  simply  turned  his  face  toward  the  wil- 
derness where  the  camp  of  Israel  lay  in  full  view  before 
him.  Now  we  read,  not  that  the  Lord  "met  him"  and 
"put  a  word  into  his  mouth"  (Num.  23:  4,  5,  16),  but 
that  "the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him,"  giving  him 
prophetic  visions  in  manner  quite  diflerent  from  the 
preceding.  His  spiritual  eye  Avas  now  opened ;  what 
his  natural  eye  had  just  seen  as  he  set  his  face  toward 
the  Avilderness  (the  camp  of  Israel),  led  his  thought  in 
these  spiritual  visions  of  Israel's  glorious  future,  and 
his  imagery  naturally  came  from  the  scenes  still  fresh 
in  his  mind.  "  How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and 
thy  tabernacles,  0  Israel"!  Exalted  be  thy  king,dom; 
glorious  thy  king !  His  own  great  God  brought  him 
up  from  Egypt;  befriends  him  still;  will  give  him  as- 
sured victory  oVer  all  enemies  in  his  own  time !  Blessed 
be  all  who  bless  thee;  cursed  be  all  who  curse  thee! 

Balak  is  terribly  enraged  and  bids  Balaam  flee  and 
begone.  Balaam  witli  apparent  mildness  and  undis- 
turbed equanimity  proposes  to  give  Balak  some  further 
prophetic  views  of  what  Israel  should  do  to  Moab  in 
the  coming  days.  Again  "he  takes  up  his  parable:" 
"I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now ;  I  shall  behold  him,  but 
not  nigh  :    there  shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob  and  a 


S72  Balaam's  prophecies. 

scepter  shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  cor- 
ners of  Moab,  and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth" 
(V.  17). 

Who  is  "the  star"  and  "the  scepter"  of  this  prophecy? 

The  leading  thought  of  the  passage  (vs.  17-19)  and 

indeed  of  the  entire  prophecy  to  the  end  of  verse  24  is 
the  supremacy  of  Israel,  and  the  fall  of  all  powers  hostile 
to  Israel  and  to  Israel's  God.  The  key-note  is  in  the 
words:  "  Out  of  Jacob  shall  come  he  that  shall  have  domin- 
ion." The  prophetic  future  (as  usual)  is  built  upon  the 
visible  present,  or  perhaj^s  more  precisely,  springs  out 
of  it — is  suggested  by  it,  and  takes  its  phraseology  and 
costume  from  it.  The  Lord  forces  the  truth  upon  Ba- 
laam's soul  that  this  Israel  whom  he  was  called  out 
from  his  Eastern  home  to  curse  could  not  be  cursed  to 
any  purpose  by  any  earthly  divination  or  power  because 
they  were  God's  own  people,  and  it  was  his  fixed  pur- 
pose to  bless  them.  To  impress  this  great  truth  the 
more  deeply,  the  Lord  reveals  to  him  in  prophetic 
vision  that  this  present  fact  is  not  transient  but  des- 
tined to  reach  into  the  remote  future;  that  it  is  in- 
deed only  a  beginning  of  their  supremacy — a  pledge  of 
a  far  more  sovereign  ascendency,  to  be  manifested  in 

future  ages. With  this   view   of   the   spirit  of  the 

prophecy,  we  must  find  here,  not  merely  David  in  whom 
as  the  first  conqueror  of  Moab  and  of  Edom  (2  Sam.  8 : 
2,  12,  14)  these  words  receive  the  first  palpable  install- 
ment of  their  meaning ;  but  j^et  more  surelj'  that  greater 
Son  of  David  whose  scepter  is  to  rule  the  nations  with 
a  rod  of  iron. 

That  this  broad  construction  is  the  true  one  will  ap- 
pear yet  more  fully  when  we  compare  the  use  of  the 
word  "  scepter"  here  with  Jacob's  use  of  it  (Gen.  49  :  10); 
the  "star"  here  with  the  "star  in  the  East"  (Matt. 
2:  1)  seen  by  other  wise  men  [magicians]  from  Ba- 
laam's own  country;  and  not  least,  the  fact  that  Edom 
and  Seir  became  in  the  usage  of  later  prophets  sym- 
bolic  names  for  the  declared  and  malign  enemies  of 

Christ's  kingdom  (See  Isa.  34). "He  shall  smite  the 

corners;"  better  the  two  sides  of  Moab,  i.  e.  Moab  from 
side  to  side,  through  and  through,  laying  waste  her 
whole  country. The  Avord  "Sheth"  ("all  the  chil- 
dren of  ShetJi")  seems  to  be  used  as  a  common,  not  a 
proper  noun,  the  sense  being — all  the  sons  of  tumult — 


Balaam's  rRoniEciEs.  373 

all  the  men  of  war  and  strife.  Her  war-power  he  shall 
utterly  break  down.  Edoni  and  Seir — two  names  for 
one  and  the  same  kingdom,  often  affiliated  with  Moab, 
shall  become  the  possession  of  their  enemies  and  Israel 
shall  outmaster  them  through  her  valor,  and  yet  more 
through  the  might  of  her  God — first  fulfilled  by  David 
(2  Sam.  8  :  14). 

Of  Amalek  he  said:  Amalek  was  first  among  the 
nations  to  assail  Israel  (Ex.  17  :  8-16) ;  her  end  shall  bo 
utter  annihilation.  (See  the  notice  of  Amalek  on  Ex.  17). 

Verses  21,  22,  spoken  of  the  Kenites,  of  whom  Jethro 
and  Hobab  were  the  earliest  representatives,  are  not 
without  difficulties,  yet  their  history  places  them  in 
marked  contrast  with  Amalek — friends,  not  enemies  of 
Israel;  and  therefore  suggests — not  to  say  demands,  a  con- 
trasted prophetic  destin3\  Placing  therfiselves  on  the 
side  of  Israel,  their  dwelling-place  was  strong ;  their  nest 
in  the  rocks.  Keil  translates  the  passage — "  Durable  is 
thy  dwelling-place,  and  thy  nest  laid  upon  the  rock; 
for  should  Kain  [the  Kenite]  be  destroyed  until  As- 
shur  shall  carry  thee  captive"? — the  question  in  his 
view  having  the  force  of  a  negative :  The  Kenite  shall 
not  be  destroyed,  etc.  But  it  is  not  quite  clear  that  the 
original  words  will  bear  this  construction.  It  is  how- 
ever certain  that  the  prophecy  assures  the  Kenites,  as 
friends  of  Israel,  of  long-continued  prosperity. 

Again  Balaam  "takes  up  his  parable,"  forcibly  im- 
pressed with  the  fearfid  judgments  God  would  send 
upon  the  enemies  of  Israel :  "  Who  shall  endure  the 
day  of  such  judgments  on  the  guilty  foes  of  God? 
Great  powers  from  the  West  [ships  of  Chittim]  shall 
sweep  over  the  ancient  Eastern  empires  and  level  them 
with  the  dust;  and  God  will  stand  before  the  nations 
far  doAvn  the  ages  as  one  mighty  to  protect  his  people 
and  to  overwhelm  their  enemies." 

Balaam's  oracles  are  expressed  in  the  purest  style  of 
Hebrew  poetry — such  as  few  can  read  without  a  sense 
of  its  beauty  and  majesty.  If  read  with  a  present 
sense  of  the  moral  status  of  this  prince  of  diviners — of 
the  conflict  in  his  soul  between  the  love  of  riches  and 
honor  on  the  one  hand  and  some  regard  to  the  high  be- 
hests of  the  Almighty  on  the  other,  we  can  not  well 
suppress  a  feeling  of  sadness  that  one  so  gifted  by  na- 
ture and  so  favored  of  God  with  prophetic  revelations, 


874  Balaam's  prophecies  and  end. 

should,  despite  of  all,  have  3-et  succumhed  to  the  do- 
minion of  the  baser  impulses  of  his  soul.  His  final 
record  is  dark  and  distressing.  "He  taught  Balak  to 
cast  a  stumbling-block  before  Israel"  and  drew  them 
into  idolatry  and  fornication  (Rev.  2:  14  and  Num.  25). 
He  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Midianites,  and  (apparently) 
counseled  them  into  the  same  infernal  policy.  Hence 
when  the  Lord  in  self-defense  hurled  down  the  sword 
of  his  people  upon  Midian  and  five  of  her  kings  fell, 
Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  also  was  slain  (Num.  31 :  1-8). 
Thus  he  who  so  plaintively  yet  so  pertinently  prayed — 
"  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,"  met  the  death 
of  the  wicked.  He  had  seen  reason  enough  for  the 
prayer :  "  Let  my  last  end  be  like  his " ;  and  yet  he 
"  died  as  the  fool  dieth  " — in  arms  against  Almighty 
God.  While  in  imagination  and  intellect  he  might 
have  taken  rank  with  the  noblest  of  earth's  sons,  yet 
through  the  baseness  of  his  impulses  and  the  greed  of  a 
covetous  soul,  he  chose  his  rank  among  the  meanest 
and  utterly  missed  the  immortality  which  seemed  at 
one  moment  so  nearly  in  his  grasp!  For  awhile  God 
held  him  to  the  utterance  of  lofty  thought,  and  ap- 
parently of  pure  and  resolute  purpose.  But  no  sooner 
was  the  Lord's  restraining  hand  lifted  off  than  Balaam 
slumped  into  the  mire  of  his  selfish,  covetous  nature 
and  went  fast  "  to  his  own  place  "  ! 

The  question  has  been  raised  (more  curious  than  use- 
ful) how  Moses  and  the  archives  of  Israel  came  into 
possession  of  these  prophecies  of  Balaam.  In  answer  it 
has  been  suggested  that,  failing  to  get  the  pay  he  ex- 
pected from  Balak,  Balaam  went  to  Moses  and  laid  be- 
fore him  the  contents  of  these  chapters  (Num.  22-24) 
with  the  hope  of  ample  reward  (which  his  covetous 
heart  was  loth  to  forego) ;  but  failing  here  also,  left  in 
disgust ;  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  Moab  and  Mid- 
ian ;  retaliated  with  selfish  malignity  upon  Israel  and 
Israel's  God,  and  of  course  hurried  himself  swiftly  to  his 

final  doom. Let  his  example   never  cease  to  be  a 

warning ! 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


THE  LAST  FOUR  BOOKS  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH:  THEIR 
METHOD  OF  AREANGEMENT  AND  SUBJECT-MATTER. 

The  manner  in  which  the  last  four  of  the  five  books 
of  Moses  are  made  up  is  peculiar  and  should  have  a  mo- 
ment's special  attention.  Their  striking  peculiarity  is 
the  blending  of  matters  pertaining  to  the  religious 
system,  to  the  civil  code,  and  to  the  national  history 
with  no  well  defined  order  or  method — the  historic 
facts  taking  their  place  probably  as  they  occurred  and 
came  before  the  writer,  and  the  other  topics  being  ar- 
ranged quite  miscellaneously.  This  method  obviously 
indicates  that  the  writer  was  not  an  author  by  profes- 
sion— a  mere  writer  and  nothing  else ;  but  one  who  was 
pressed  with  the  cares  and  burdens  of  public  office ; 
bearing  the  chief  responsibilities  for  the  constitution 
of  the  religious  system  with  its  elaborate  ritual  ob- 
servances; for  the  civil  code — its  exact  record  and  its 
judicial  administration;  and  for  the  general  govern- 
ment of  the  people— quelling  disturbances;  answering 
their  complaints;  slipplying  their  wants;  guiding  their 
desert  march,  and  directing  their  wars  in  defense 
against  assailants.  These  books  answer  so  perfectly  to 
the  circumstances  of  Moses  as  to  leave  no  rational 
doubt  that  he  was  their  author.  Incidentally  and  most 
inadvertently  they  write  out  his  daily  history,  showing 
us  how  he  was  occupied  during  those  years  when  the 
events  he  narrates  were  transpiring.  For  the  most 
part  the  record  in  these  four  books  pertains  to  the  first 
two  years  after  Moses  entered  upon  his  great  mission 
and  the  last  two  years  before  his  death.  There  was  a 
long  interval  between  these  periods  of  which  nothing 
special  is  said. 

Passing  the  first  twenty  chapters  of  Exodus  whieli 
are  history  and  follow  the  natural  order  of  the  events; 
;i.nd  passing  also  the  thrilling  and  solemn  scenes  of 
Sinai — the  great  work  of  Moses  was  to  receive  and 
record  the  statutes  of  the  civil  code,  and  the  directions 
17  (375) 


376  LEVITICUS. 

respecting  their  religions  sj^stem,  including  the  con- 
struction of  the  tabernacle;  the  services  of  the  priests 
and  Levites ;  the  sacred  festivals,  and  the  whole  ritual 
of  worship.  We  are  told  how  the  long  sessions  of  Moses 
with  the  Lord  on  the  Mount  were  interrupted  (Ex.  32- 
34)  by  the  sin  of  the  people  in  the  matter  of  the  golden 
calf;  after  which  the  record  of  the  tabernacle — its 
construction,  etc.,  is  resumed  and  continued  to  the 
close  of  Exodus. 

Leviticus,  takes  its  name  from  Levi  whose  tribe  fur- 
nished the  line  of  priests  and  the  servants  for  all  the 
religious  ritual.  The  first  nine  chapters  record  ritual 
observances  and  sacrifices  ;  then  the  death  of  Nadab  and  ■ 
Abihu,  occurring,  is  recorded  in  its  chronological  place 
(chap.  10)  ;  after  which  the  author  resumes  his  main 
subject — things  clean  and  unclean ;  purifications ;  the 
case  of  leprosy,  etc.  In  connection  with  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  High  Priest  and  his  duties,  we  have  (chap. 
16)  the  very  interesting  description  of  the  great  day  of 
atonement.  Statutes  of  a  civil  character  are  inter- 
spersed with  those  which  are  religious  (chap.  19,  and  20, 
and  24)  ;  the  great  feasts  are  described  (chap.  23) ;  the 
Sabbatic  year  and  the  .Jubilee  (chap.  25) ;  a  chapter  of 
moral  warnings  and  admonitions  (26) ;  closing  with  one 
on  special  vows  and  consecrations  (27). 

The  book  of  Numbers  is  named  from  the  theme  of  its 
first  two  chai^ters — the  census  of  the  tribes.  Another 
census  was  made  during  the  last  year  of  their  wander- 
ing, viz.  on  the  plains  of  Moab  (chap.  26).  It  has  also 
an  itinerary  of  the  journeyings  of  the  people  during 
their  entire  wilderness  life  (33).  Several  chapters  are 
devoted  to  the  religious  ritual  (none  to  the  civil  code); 
and  several  (more  than  in  Leviticus)  to  historic  events; 
e.  g.  the  murmuring  and  the  consequent  plague  at  Ta- 
berah  and  Kibroth-hattaavah  (chap.  11) ;  the  envy  and 
sedition  of  Miriam  (chap.  12) ;  the  case  of  the  spies  and 
the  doom  of  the  unbelieving  (13  and  14) ;  Korah  and 
his  doom  (16).  Then  passing  over  to  the  last  year  of 
the  wandering,  we  have  the  scenes  at  Kadesh — the  nmr- 
rauring  for  water  and  the  sin  of  Moses  for  which  God 
forbade  his  entering  Canaan  (20) ;  a  conflict  of  arms 
with  Arad  the  Canaanite;  the  fiery  serpents;  the  over- 
throw of  Sihon  and  Og  (21) ;  Balaam  and  his  prophecies 


.DEUTERONOMY;   SUBJECT-MATTER.  377 

(22-24) ;  and  other  matters  of  miscellaneous  character 
(25-36). 

Deuteronomy — the  name  meaning  the  second  law, 
i.  e.  the  law  repeated — takes  this  name  from  the  fact 
that  the  book  repeats  portions  of  the  civil  code  and  also 
of  the  religious  system.  It  also  gives  a  resume  (a  brief 
summary)  of  the  leading  historical  events  of  the  Exo- 
dus, of  Sinai,  of  the  golden  calf,  and  of  the  murmurings 
of  the  fathers  in  the  early  j-ears  of  their  wanderings. 
This  book  was  manifestly  Avritten  within  the  last  one 
or  two  years  of  Moses'  life,  when  the  scenes  of  the  desert 
Avandering  were  drawing  to  a  close.  Moses  stood  before 
the  people,  almost  the  only  old  man  of  the  nation  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  while  all  the  rest 
(Caleb  and  Joshua  excepted)  were  under  twenty  when 
they  came  out  of  Egj'pt,  and  not  exceeding  sixty  at  the 
writing  of  this  book.  "  The  fathers — where  were  they  " ! 
Fallen  in  death  ;  smitten  with  the  swift  judgments  of 
the  Almighty  for  their  murmurings  or  cut  off  in  mid- 
dle life  during  their  Avanderings,  to  which  they  Avere 
doomed  for  their  unbelief  upon  the  report  of  the  spies. 
The  nation,  as  they  stood  before  Moses,  Avere  truly  his 
children.  How  had  he  borne  them  on  his  parental 
heart  for  forty  years;  given  them  line  upon  line  of 
statute  and  of  ritual;  shaping  their  civil  life  and  their 
religious  life  ;  Avatching  Avith  the  interest  of  a  patriarch 
every  development  of  their  character ;  devoted  Avith  the 

deepest  love  of  his  heart  to  their  moral  culture. 

Such  Avas  Moses  and  such  Avere  the  people  Avhom  he 
addressed  on  the  plains  of  Moab,  with  the  Avords  of  sub- 
lime moral  poAver,  recorded  in  this  book. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  repeat  the  points  of  this  his- 
*tory  from  Egypt  and  Sinai  ouAvard  to  that  hour,  Avhich 
form  the  staple  of  Deut.  1-11.  Let  it  suffice  to  say  that 
Moses  brings  them  forAvard  here  Avith  more  or  less  ex- 
pansion of  the  details  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enforcing 
their  moral  application.  He  makes  those  historic  facts 
the  text  for  this  most  impressiA'c  sermon — the  basis  of 
a  series  of  exhortations  to  holy  living  Avhich  Avell  up 
from  the  depths  of  his  parental,  loving  heart,  and  testify 
how  deeply  he  sympathized  AvithGod  and  Avith  the  true 
interests  of  his  covenant  ])eople.  Most  solemnly  does 
he  L'xliort  thom  against  the  great  sin  of  their  times  — 


378  DEUTERONOMY   26, 

idolatry ;  and  implore  them  to  remember  the  God  of 
their  fathers ;  the  Giver  of  all  their  mercies ;  the  God 
'of  their  national  salvation.  As  a  specimen  of  the  his- 
toric sermon,  nothing  can  be  more  admirable,  complete, 
and  effective.  Coming  from  such  a  patriarch,  from  one 
Avho  had  done  and  suffered  so  much  for  his  countrymen; 
who  had  been  admitted  so  freely  into  the  deep  counsels 
and  svuipathies  of  Israel's  God  ;  who  had  been  honored 
of  God  not  only  as  the  great  law-giver,  but  also  as  the 
Savior  and  Deliverer  of  his  nation— these  Avords  ought 
to  have  been  listened  to  with  profoundest  attention. 
Let  us  hope  they  were  truly  wrought  into  the  very  souls 
of  this  generation.  No  one  can  read  them  attentively 
at  this  day  without  a  quickened  sense  of  the  solemn 
relations  which  God  establishes  between  himself  and 
his  covenant  people  in  every  age  of  time. 

Of  the  statutes,  mostly  civil,  in  small  part  religious, 
which  chiefly  fill  chap.  12-26,  there  is  little  occasion 
for  special  remark  here.  They  have  chiefly  come  under 
consideration  in  my  treatment  of  the  civil  code  of  Is- 
rael. Some  points  are  much  more  fully  expanded  here 
than  in  the  previous  books,  e.  g.  the  year  of  release 
(chap.  15  :  1-11),  the  case  of  female  captives  (21 :  10-14). 
There  is  some  new  matter;  e.  g.  the  w\ar-law  (20) ;  the 
expiation  for  murder  by  unknown  hands  (21 :  1-9);  the 
case  of  partiality  toward  sons  (21  :  15-17)  and  to  men- 
tion no  more,  the  form  of  announcement  and  consecra- 
tion with  which  the  Hebrew  worshiper  was  to  bring 
before  the  Lord  the  first-fruits  of  his  land,  and  also  his 
tithes  of  the  third  year  (chajD.  26).  These  forms  are 
instructive  as  giving  us  a  just  idea  of  the  solemnities 
of  Hebrew  worship.  Let  us  think  of  the  Israelite 
coming  up  to  Shiloh  or  to  Jerusalem,  say  from  the' 
mountains  of  Ephraim  or  the  pasture  lands  of  Gilead, 
after  the  conquest  and  possession  of  Canaan,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  here  recorded,  thus : 

"That  tliou  slialt  take  of  the  first  of  all  the  fruit  of  the  earth,  which 
thou  shalt  bring  of  thy  land  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  and 
Bhall  put  it.  in  a  basket,  and  shall  go  unto  the  place  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  shall  choose  to  place  his  name  there.  And  thou  shalt  go 
unto  the  priest  that  shall  be  in  those  days,  and  say  unto  him,  I  pro- 
fess this  day  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  I  am  come  unto  the  coun- 
try which  the  Lord  sware  unto  our  fathers  for  to  give  us.  And  the 
priest  shall  take  the  basket  out  of  thine  liaild,and  set  it  down  before 


DEUTERONOMY   2G.  379 

the  altar  of  tlie  Lord  thy  God.  And  tliou  shalt  speak  and  say  before 
the  Lord  tliy  God,  A  Syrian*  ready  to  perish  vas  my  father  ;  and  he 
went  down  into  Egypt,  and  sojourned  tliere  with  a  i'ew,  and  became 
there  a  nation,  great,  mighty,  and  populous:  and  the  Egyptians 
evil-entreated  us,  and  afflicted  us,  and  laid  upon  us  hard  bondage: 
and  when  we  cried  unto  the  Lord  God  of  our  fathers,  the  Lord 
heard  our  voice,  and  looked  on  our  affliction,  and  our  labor,  and 
our  oppression:  and  the  Lord  brought  us  forth  out  of  Egypt  with 
a  miglity  hand,  and  with  an  out-stretched  arm,  and  with  great  ter- 
ribleness,  and  with  signs,  and  Avith  wonders:  and  he  hath  brought 
us  into  this  place,  and  hath  given  us  this  land,  even  a  land  that  flow- 
eth  with  milk  and  honey.  And  now,  behold,  I  have  brought  the 
first-fruits  of  the  land,  which  thou,  O  Lord,  hast  given  me.  And 
thou  shalt  set  it  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  worship)  before  the 
Lord  thy  God :  and  thou  shalt  rejoice  in  every  good  thiriff  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  unto  thee,  and  unto  thine  house,  thou, 
and  the  Levite,  and  the  stranger  that  is  among  you"  (vs.  2-11). 

This  offering,  put  so  impressively  upon  its  great  his- 
toric grounds — the  preservations  and  mercies  with 
wliich  God  had  crowned  tlieir  nation  in  fultilling  the 
promises  made  to  the  national  fathers,  became  no  un- 
meaning service.  All  is  instinct  with  life.  Those  chil- 
dren of  the  old  patriarchs  reposing  under  their  vine 
and  fig-tree  in  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey 
had  a  wonderful  history,  and  God  meant  to  have  their 
ritual  of  worship  link  itself  continually  with  that  his- 
tory and  take  quickening  impulses  from  those  impres- 
sive associations. 

Not  less  pertinent  and  impressive  is  the  form  of 
announcement  and  protestation  for  the  service  of  "  tith- 
ing the  tithes  of  their  increase  the  third  year" — on  this 
wise : 

"When  thou  hast  made  an  end  of  tithing  all  the  tithes  of  thine 
increase  the  third  year,  which  is  the  year  of  tithing,  and  hast  given 
it  unto  the  Levite,  the  stranger,  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow,  that 
they  may  eat  within  thy  gates,  and  be  filled ;  then  thou  shah  say 
before  the  Lord  thy  God,  1  have  brought  aAvay  the  hallowed  things 
out  of  mine  house,  and  also  have  given  them  unto  the  Levite,  and 
unto  the  stranger,  to  the  fatherless,  and  to  the  widow,  according  to 
all  thy  commandments  which  thou  hast  commanded  me:  I  have 
not  transgressed  thy  commandments,  neither  have  I  forgotten  them.' 
1   have  not  eaten  thereof  in  my  mourning,  neither  have  I  taken 

••■■  .Lacob  might  properly  be  called  a  "  Syrian  "  as  having  lived  full 
twenty  years  with  Laban  the  Syrian  in  the  great  Aram  of  the  East. 
The  point  of  his  history  where  he  was  "ready  to  perish"  was  that 
of  the  great  famine  in'Canaan  which  drove  him  and  his  household 
into  Egypt  for  bread. 


880  THE    PROPHET   LIKE   MOSES. 

away  aught  tliereof  for  any  unclean  uss,  noi*  given  might  thereof  for 
the  dead  :  but  I  have  hearkened  to  tlie  voice  of  the  Lord  my  God, 
and  have  done  according  to  all  that  tliou  hast  commanded  me." 
(Deut.  26!  12-15). 

-We  must  note  with  pleasure  the  fraternal  and  lib- 


eral spirit  which  this  service  cherished  so  effectively, 
remembering  kindly  the  Levite,  the  stranger,  the  father- 
less, and  the  widow  :  the  Levite  as  the  religious  servant 
of  the  nation ;  the  stranger  as  one  but  too  often  neg- 
lected and  forsaken  according  to  the  impulses  of  man's 
selfish  nature,  but  one  whom  God  remembered  out  of 
the  depths  of  his  fatherly  care  for  the  neglected  and 
forlorn ;  the  fatherless  and  the  widow  as  those  whoso 
cup  of  affliction  is  sore  and  should  commend  them  to 
every  humane  sympathy  of  the  heart.  Such  treatment 
of  the  stranger  would  naturally  bring  most  of  them  into 
the  Hebrew  communion  as  proselytes.  Where  else  in 
all  the  earth  could  they  expect  such  kindness  and  such 
inducements  to  build  their  family  hotne  ? This  in- 
side view  of  the  institutions  and  usages  of  Hebrew 
thanksgiving  worship  remind  us  that  God's  religion 
has  a  social  side ;  forgets  not  man's  social  nature,  but 
provides  for  fraternal  sympathy  and  for  the  ministra- 
tions of  kindness  and  relief  to  all  the  children  of  Avant 
and  sorrow. 

This  chapter  (26)  closes  appropriately  with  the  mu- 
tual relations  between  God  and  his  people — they  hav- 
ing solemnly  declared  ["avouched"]  the  Lord  to  be  their 
God,  and  he  on  his  part  having  in  like  manner  declared 
them  to  be  his  people. 

"  The  Prophet  like  unto  Moses." 

From  this  point  we  turn  back  to  consider  a  special 
prophecy  (Deut.  18 :  15-22),  passed  without  notice  in 
the  rapid  and  general  view  taken  of  those  chapters. 

Moses  is  contemplating  the  state  of  the  people  located 
in  Canaan;  frequently  brought  into  contact  there  with 
diviners,  soothsayers,  and  magicians.  The  devoted  na- 
tions of  Canaan,  he  tells  them,  were  rotten  with  those 
abominations;  and  for  these  sins  the  Lord  drove  them 
out  before  Israel.  Addressing  the  Israelites,  he  tells 
them  they  shall  not  have  the  least  occasion  to  resort  to 
magic  arts  for  superhuman  knowledge  or  help. 


THE    PROPHET   LIKE   MOSES.  381 

"  The  Lord  tliy  God  will  raise  up  unto  Ihee  a  Prophet  from  the 
midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me;  unto  him  ye  shall 
hearken;  according  to  all  that  thou  desiredst  of  the  Lord  thy  God 
in  Horeb  in  the  day  of  the  assembly,  saying.  Let  me  not  hear  again 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  my  God,  neither  let  me  see  this  great  fire  any 
more,  that  I  die  not.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me.  They  have  well 
xpoken  that  which  they  have  spoken.  I  will  raise  them  up  a  Prophet 
from  among  their  brethren,  like  unto  thee,  and  will  put  my  woi'ds 
in  his  mouth  ;  and  he  shall  speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  com- 
mand him.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  whosoever  will  not 
hearken  unto  my  words  which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  1  will 
require  it  of  him.  But  the  prophet,  which  shall  presume  to  speak  a 
wojd  in  my  name,  which  I  have  not  commanded  liim  to  speak,  or 
that  shall  speak  in  the  name  of  other  gods,  even  that  prophet  shall 
die"  (Deut.  IS:  15-20). 

Here  the  great  question  will  be — Is  Jesus  the  Messiah 
predieted  here? 
The  supposable  theories  are  three  : 

1.  That  the  passage  treats  of  the  Hebrew  prophets 
onl}^,  and  not  of  the  Messiah  ; 

2.  Of  the  Messiah  only,  and  not  of  the  Hebrew  pro- 
phets ; 

3.  Of  the  Messiah  primarily,  yet  not  excluding  the 
Hebrew  prophets. 

The  reasons  for  including  the  HebreAV  prophets  lie  in 
the  connection  of  thought  in  which  the  pa-ssage  stands ; 
its  relation  to  the  magicians  of  Canaan,  and  to  false 
prophets.  The  Lord  says  to  the  people  through  Moses  . 
I  do  not  leave  you  dependent  on  magicians ;  I  give  you 
prophets  as  I  have  given  you  Moses ;  they  shall  teach 
you  my  words  from  time  to  time  as  ye  may  need  words 
from  your  God.  Moreover,  there  will  be  counterfeit 
prophets  coming  up;  but  I  will  give  you  tests  of  their 

character,  take  heed  to  prove  and  reject  them. This 

close  connection  of  thought  demands  some  reference  to 
the  succession  of  Hebrew  prophets. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  reasons  for  including  the 
Messiah,  and  in  fact  for  assuming  a  primary  reference 
,to  liim,  lie  in  the  use  of  the  singular— "  a  prophet;  one 
great  Prophet ;"  and  in  his  being  compared  to  Moses — 
"like  unto  me."  Moses  stood  in  many  respects  quite 
above  the  grade  of  the  future  Hebrew  prophets,  having 
none  like  him  in  the  obvious  sense  of  this  comparison 
except  Jesus. This  construction  is  greatly  strength- 
ened by  the  authority  of  the  New  Testament  writers 
and  of  Jesus  himself,  who  manifestly  found  here  the  real 


382  THE   PROPHET   LIKE   MOSES. 

Messiah.  See  his  words  (Jn,  5:  46).  "He  [Moses] 
wrote  of  me."  (Compare  Luke  24  :  44.)  Christ's  allu- 
sion to  his  words  as  having  authority  (Jn.  12 :  48,  49) 
seem  to  refer  to  this  passage  (vs.  18,  19).  "  He  that  re- 
ceiveth  not  my  Avords  hath  one  that  judgeth  him ;  the 
word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in 
the  last  day.  For  I  have  not  spoken  of  myself,  hut  the 
Father  Avho  hath  sent  me,  he  gave  me  a  commandment 

what  I  should  say,"  etc. The  Lord  said  unto  Moses — 

"I  will  put  ni}'-  words  into  his  mouth,  and  he  shall  speak 
unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him,  and  whosoever 
shall  not  hearken  unto  my  words  which  he  shall  speak 

in  my  name,  I  will  require  it  of  him." The  current 

opinion  of  the  men  taught  by  Christ  finds  in  these 
words  a  prophecy  of  him.  Philip  (Jn.  1  :  45)  said : 
"  We  have  found  him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  did 
write — Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Peter  (Acts  3  :  22,  23)  cites 
this  very  passage  as  having  been  sjwken  truly  by  Moses 
and  as  being  fulfilled  in  Christ.  So  also  does  Stephen 
(Acts  7:  37).  The  Samaritans  also  (as  appears  from 
Jn.  4  :  25)  found  the  Messiah  here,  since  they  received 
of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  the  Pentateuch  only. 
The  circumstance  that  the  Christ  whom  they  expected 
would  "  teach  them  all  things  "  points  certainly  to  this 
prophecy    rather    than    to    prophecies    from    Genesis 

(e.g.  3 :  15  or  49 :  10). Finally,  the  voice  from  the 

cloud  at  Christ's  transfiguration — "  Hear  ye  him " 
(Mat.  17 :  5)  corresponds  to  the  "prominent  point 
of  this  prophecy — "  Unto  him  shall  ye  hearken " 
(v.  15).  Moses  (present  at  the  transfiguration)  must 
have  recognized  this  identity. — —These  considerations 
compel  us  to  find  here  a  primary  reference  to  the 
Messiah. 

The  full  answer  to  the  question:  How  can  these 
words  cover  both  the  one  great  Prophet — the  Messiah ; 
and  also  the  succession  of  Hebrew  prophets? — will  be 
found  in  these  facts :  That  the  spirit  of  Jesus  was  in  all 
the  old  prophets;  that  they  were  his  servants,  bearing 
his  messages;  that  he  and  they  were  parts  of  the  same 
great  system  of  divine  revelation  to  men;  and  that 
Christ's  mission  was  at  once  the  guaranty  and  pledge 
of  theirs — their  work  being  linked  in  with  his  as  the 
natural  consequent  and  adjunct.  Comprehensively 
spoken  of,  the  one  great  prophet  included  all  the  lesser 


THE    BLESSINGS   AND   THE    CURSES.  383 

prophets;  the  promise  of  the  one  embracing  and  imj^ly- 
ing  the  promise  of  alL 

Chapter  27  provides  for  a  special  service  to  be  per- 
formed after  they  are  located  in  Canaan.  The  record 
of  its  fulfillment  appears  in  Josh.  8  :  30-35.  The  serv- 
ice was  two-fold:  first  the  writing  of  the  law  on  large 
plastered  stones :  second,  the  proclamation  of  a  series 
of  blessings  and  also  of  curses  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  people. 

As  to  the  first,  it  does  not  appear  definitely  how 
much  was  to  be  written  upon  these  stones.  Somewhat 
more  probably  than  the  ten  commandments  as  written 
originally  on  two  stone  tablets;  yet  probably  not  all  tlie 
statutes  and  judgments  which  aj^pear  in  the  last  four 
books  of  Moses.  Perhaps  the  writing  included  the 
curses  and  blessings  proclaimed  from  Mounts  Ebal  and 

Gerizim. The  stones  were  great ;  the  number  is  not 

given.  The  writing  was  done  Avhile  the  plaster  was 
yet  fresh  and  soft.  Wlien  hardened  it  would  stand  for 
a  considerable  time.  The  purpose  was  rather  present 
efiect  than  permanent  record — a  solemn  testimony  that 
the  i^eople  who  had  now  taken  possession  of  Canaan 
were  in  covenant  with  their  God  to  obey  this  law. 

Moses  records  in  full  the  manner  of  the  rehearsal  of 
blessings  and  of  curses :  the  blessings  from  Mt.  Gerizim; 
tlie  curses  from  Mt.  Ebal :  six  trilies  standing  on  the 
former  and  six  on  the  latter :  the  Levites  solemnly  and 
in  concert  pronouncing  the  words,  and  the  people  in 
concert  responding.  Amen.  Here  may  be  seen  the 
words  of  these  blessings  and  curses  (Deut.  27 :  14-2G, 
and  28  :  1-G).  The  "  curses  "  specify  the  sins,  but  the 
announcement  of  blessings,  assuming  in  general  obedi- 
ence to  God,  simply  enumerates  the  various  good  which 

the  Lord  will  bestow. The  curses  do  not  enumerate 

all  the  sins  which  might  be  committed  nor  all  upon 
which  curses  would  fall,  but  only  some  heinous  crimes 
as  specimens. This  service,  performed  with  due  so- 
lemnity, must  have  been  impressive.  The  gathered 
thousands  of  Israel  overspreading  the  contiguous  mount- 
ains; the  priests  and  Levites  rehearsing  with  loud 
voice  these  fearful  curses,  and  the  people  responding  to 
each  curse  tlieir  exjiressive  Amen  :^^— how  must  every 
tlioughtful  heart  liave  been  thrilled,  and  every  sensi- 


38  i  LAST   WORDS  OF   MOSES. 

tive  conscience  recoiled  from  the  sins  thus  terribly  de- 
nounced ! 

Moses  proceeds  to  expatiate  through  chapter  28  upon 
the  blessings  -which  should  reward  obedience,  but  es- 
pecially upon  the  curses  that  must  come  upon  disobe- 
dience. It  would  seem  that  this  catalogue  of  curses 
has  well-nigh  exhausted  the  possibilities  of  calamity — 
personal,  social,  national — that  can  befall  the  children 
of  men,  Alas !  this  catalogue  was  fearfully  prophetic 
of  that  avalanche  of  woes  which  came  upon  this  same 
people  in  the  destruction  of  their  city  and  country, 
first  by  the  Chaldeans ;  last  and  most  fearfully,  by  the 
Romans.  How  were  the  vials  of  wrath  through  those 
agencies  of  God  poured  out  upon  the  guilty  peoijle  for 
their  great  iniquities! 

In  the  two  next  chapters  (29  and  30)  Moses  seems  to 
gather  up  all  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation's  history 
into  one  fervent  appeal  to  induce  obedience  and  to 
press  the  people  to  most  earnest  consecration  to  the 
Lord  their  God.  The  great  mercies  of  God  upon  them 
and  their  fathers  on  the  one  hand  coupled  Avith  largest 
promises.of  good  hereafter;  on  the  other  hand,  the  fear- 
ful curses  impending  over  disobedience,  are  spread  out 
to  their  view :  life  on  the  one  hand,  death  on  the  other, 
awaiting  their  choice,  pending  upon  their  decision, 
sure  to  come  according  to  their  free  election  of  the  one 
course  or  the  other: — How  are  these  moral  forces  made 
to  culminate  and  press  upon  the  conscience  of  the 
whole  peoi:)le ! 

It  is  a  solemn  act  for  even  one  so  holy  as  Moses  to 
gather  a  nation  of  children  about  him  to  say  to  them 
his  last  words  and  prepare  to  die  (chapter  31).  There 
are  some  last  words  to  be  said ;  some  last  things  to  be 
done.  Fully  conscious  that  his  days  are  numbered 
and  that  his  end  is  near  he  must  make  the  public 
transfer  of  his  responsibilities  to  Joshua.  The  written 
law  upon  which  he  has  spent  so  much  thought  and  la- 
bor must  be  properly  committed  to  the  priests  the  sons 
of  Levi  (31:  9-13),  and  provision  made  not  only  for  its 
preservation,  but  for  its  public  rehearsal  in  each  Sab- 
batic year  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles. Not  the  least 

important  of  these  last  tilings  was  the  putting  of  fare- 
well thoughts  into  tlio  form  of  song  which  might  be 


DEUT.  32.  385 

committed  to  memory,  impressed  with  all  the  power  of 
music  (perhaps),  and  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  with  the  fragrance  and  impressiveness  of  its 
poetic  power.  There  are  properly  two  songs,  one  of  a 
general  character  (chapter  32  i ;  the  other  specific,  in 
the  form  of  blessing  or  benediction  upon  the  several 
tribes  (chapter  33).  The  latter  follows  the  patriarchal 
usage  which  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Jacob  (Gen. 

49). As  to  the   first  which   is  distinctively  styled 

"  this  song,"  Moses  received  from  the  Lord  sjoecial  di- 
r(,'ctions  to  write  it  out  and  "  teach  it  to  the  children  of 
Israel"  (31:  19);  to  "put  it  in  their  mouths  that  it 
might  be  a  witness  for  God  against  the  children  of  Is- 
rael," and  "  not  be  forgotten  out  of  the  mouths  of  their 
seed"  (v.  21).  In  this  chapter  (31:  1(5-30)  the  Lord 
not  only  directed  Moses  to  write  out  this  song  but  gave 
him  its  subject-matter  almost  entire — the  whole  cur- 
rent of  its  thought — the  facts  in  the  future  history 
of  the  people  upon  which  it  is  built : — ^^in  substance, 
thus : 

The  Lord  said  to  Moses — Thou  shalt  sleep  with  th}^ 
fathers;  other  generations  of  this  people  will  arise  who 
will  depart  from  me  in  grievous  apostasy — going  after 
the  strange  gods  of  the  nations;  they  will  break  my 
covenant  with  them.  M}^  anger  will  kindle  against 
them  in  that  day;  I  will  forsake  them  and  hide  my 
face  from  them  and  bring  upon  them  sore  judgments — 
until  they  say :  "Are  not  these  evils  upon  us  because 

our  God  is  not  among  us  "  ? Yet  more  definitely  the 

Lord  gave  Moses  some  of  the  inducing  causes  of  this 
apostasy ;  viz.  fullness  of  bread  ;  the  absence  of  want  and 
trial ;  coming  into  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 
Filling  themselves  and  waxing  fat,  they  will  become 
sensual,  pleasure-loving,  and  lost  to  the  fear  of  God. 
So  they  will  turn  to  other  gods  (v.  20).  Hence  the  oc- 
casion for  this  witnessing  song,  of  solemn  forewarning, 
pregnant  with  moral  forces  against  apostasy  and  rich 
in  suggestions  of  untold  value  for  those  apostate  gen- 
erations to  whom  it  would  specially  apply. 

I  i3lace  this  song  before  the  reader  with  explanations 
of  its  dark  points  and  some  suggestions  as  to  its  line  of 
thought  and  its  moral  application. 


386  LAST    WORDS   OF   MOSES. 

1.  Give  ear,  O  ye  heavens,  and  I  will  speak;  and  hear,  O  earth, 
the  words  of  my  mouth. 

2.  My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain,  my  speech  shall  distil  as 
the  dew,  as  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  herb,  and  as  the  showers 
upon  the  grass : 

3.  Because  I  will  publish  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  ascribe  ye  great- 
ness unto  our  God. 

4.  He  is  the  Kock,  his  work  is  perfect:  for  all  his  ways  are  judg- 
ment: a  God  of  truth  and  without  iniquity,  just  and  right  is  he. 


This  call  upon  the  heavens  and  the  earth  to  hear  the 
words  of  this  song  must  be  construed  not  as  a  call  upon 
the  intelligent  beings  of  heaven  to  listen  to  it ;  much 
less,  upon  the  material  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  this 
globe  of  ours;  but  rather  as  poetic  usage,  due  to  the 
lofty  inspiration  of  the  poet's  soul  who  feels  that  the 
message  which  burns  in  his  heart  is  so  momentous  to 
his  people  that  all  nature — above  and  beneath — may 
fitly  be' summoned  to  hear.  It  is  his  strongest  way  of 
saying — Let  all  people  of  this  and  future  generations 
give  ear  and  heart  to  these  messages  from  the  God  of 

heaven  and  earth. The  poet-prophets  of  Israel  in 

later  days  adopt  the  same  form  of  address  (Isa.  1 :  2,  and 

Jer.  2  :  12,  and  6 :  19). "  My  doctrine  "—the  truths  I 

teach — "  shall  drop  as  the  rain  " ;  good  for  the  soul  as 
rain  for  the  grass;  refreshing,  fraught  with  real  life  and 
the  beauty  of  holiness : — the  reason  of  its  great  value 
])eing,   "  Because   I  am  to  proclaim   the  name  of  the 

Lord" — i.  e.  his  name  as  significant  of  his  nature. 

Appreciating  this  sacred  name,  ye  will  testify  to  his 
greatness;  your  heart  Avill  be  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
his  excellent  glory. 

"Their  Roch  is  he"- — the  writer  placing  this  forcible 
word  first  in  order.  The  great  elements  of  his  charr 
acter  are  stable,  solid,  enduring,  changeless:  every 
thing  in  his  nature  and  work  is  perfect ;  all  his  Avays 
are  righteous;  a  God  of  truth  is  he,  whose  words  of 
promise  or  of  threatening  can  never  fLiil.  "Without 
iniquity"  moreover;  there  is  nothing  in  him  morally 
tortuous;  all  is  on  the  right  line  of  equity  and  jus- 
tice. Such  is  the  Great  God  of  our  fathers — the  God  of 
our  national  covenant.  It  was  pertinent  to  place  these 
views  of  God  at  the  head  of  this  song  because  they  set 
the  guilt  of  forsaking  God  in  its  true  light,  and  would 
also  vindicate  his  justice  in  sending  even  great  calam- 


BEiJT.  32.  387 

ities  upon  his  apostate  people. In  later  ages  David 

uses  this  figure— (the  "  Rock  ") — of  God  with  e-xquisite 
beauty  and  force  (Ps.  18  :  2,  and  28  :  1,  and  42  :  9). 

5.  They  have  corrupted  themselves,  tlieir  spot  is  not  the  sjxA  of 
his  children ;  theij  are  a  perverse  and  crooked  generation. 

The  poet  turns  suddenly  to  the  great  fact  of  the  fu- 
ture apostasy  of  God's  peoj^le. — "  Their  spot " — moral  de- 
filement— the  dark  pollution  of  their  souls.  That  does 
not  indicate  my  children.  My  dutiful  sons  and  daugh- 
ters never  carry  such  stains;  never  give  their  hearts  to 
other  gods;  never  turn  their  backs  upon  their  loving 
and  glorious  Father! 

6.  Do  ye  thus  requite  the  Lord,  O  foolish  peoide  and  unwise?  is 
not  he  tliy  Father  that  has  bought  thee?  hath  he  not  made  thee  and 
established  thee? 

7.  Kemember  the  days  of  old,  oonsiilcr  the  years  of  many  genera- 
tions: ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew  thee;  thy  elders,  and  they 
will  tell  thee. 

Is  it  possible  that  ye  can  thus  requite  your  own  Je- 
hovah? Is  this  fair  treatment  of  such  a"^ Father?  Is 
not  the  God  whom  ye  have  forsaken  the  very  same  who 
hath  bought  thee  from  bondage;  redeemed  thee  for 
himself;  made  thee  a  jirosperous  and  happy  nation, 
and  established  thee  in  permanent  strength  ?  Go  back 
over  the  grand  ages  of  your  national  history;  ask  the 
fathers  for  their  testimony  to  the  great  works  of  3'our 
God  in  your  behalf. 

8.  When  the  Most  High  divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance, 
when  he  separated  the  sons  of  Adam,  he  set  the  bounds  of  the  people 
according  to  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

9.  For  the  Lord's  portion  is  his  jieople;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  in- 
heritance. 

In  the  original  planting  of  the  nations  the  Lord  re- 
served Canaan — best  and  fairest  of  all  lands — for  his 
people.  This  refers  to  those  providential  agencies  by 
which  God  assigned  to  the  nations  descended  from  No- 
ah's sons  their  geographical  localities  and  national 
home.  In  this  arrangement  he  reserved  sufficient  ter- 
ritory for  Israel — "  according  to  their  numbers  "  ;  and 
in  the  best  locality  for  their  residence.     The  Lord  ac- 


388  LAST   AVORDS  OF   MOSES. 

counted  them  his  own  people  and  gave  them  his  own 
reserved  "lot." 

10.  He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste  howling  wil- 
derness ;  he  led  him  about,  he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the 
apple  of  his  eye. 

11.  As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young, 
spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her 
wings : 

12.  So  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and  there  teas  no  strange  god 
with  him. 

"  He  found  him  in  a  desert  land."  With  poetic  license 
the  writer  touches  Hebrew  history  where  he  will — in 
this  case  at  Sinai  where  God  met  Israel  visibly,  and 
called  them  into  special  covenant  with  himself.  All 
through  that  wilderness  he  led  Israel  about  by  his 
guiding  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire ;  instructed  him  by  pre- 
cepts and  statutes;  kept  him  from  danger  even  as  a 
man  guards  the  apple  of  his  eye  (which  the  more  poetic 
Hebrew  called  the  little  man  of  the  eye — that  diminutive 
l^icture  of  yourself). The  next  figure — at  once  ex- 
quisite in  beauty  and  foi'cible  for  illustration— comes 
from  the  eagle  training  his  young  to  fly.  When  he 
sees  that  the  time  has  come  for  this  training,  he  stirs 
up  his  nestlings — waking  them  as  the  father  does  his 
sons  at  the  morning  hour;  flutters  over  them  as  if  to 
show  them  the  exercise ;  spreads  abroad  his  wings ; 
takes  them  up  aloft,  casts  them  off  upon  their  flying 
power — coming  swift  to  the  rescue  if  their  strength 
should  fail ; — all  to  train  them  into  courage,  and  strength 
of  wing,  and  steadiness  of  stroke.  So  the  Lord  alone — 
he  and  none  other — did  lead  Israel.  There  was  no 
strange  god  there.  In  all  his  wilderness  training  of 
forty  most  eventful  years — that  tender  youth-time  of 
Israel,  there  was  not  the  least  help  from  Baal  or  Ash- 
toreth.  But  the  hand  of  his  own  God  was  every-where ; 
in  his  daily  bread;  in  his  rock-gushing  waters;  in  his 
pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  ;  in  his  victories  over  Amalek, 
Arad,  and  Midian.  This  high  hand  and  uplifted  arm, 
strong  as  the  eagle's  pinions,  bore  the  younglings  taken 
from  his  nest  over  and  through  the  roughnesses  of  that 
waste  howling  wilderness,  until  at  length  he  set  them 
down  in  the  jDromised  Canaan. 

13.  He  made  him  ride  on  tlie  liigli  places  of  the  earth,  that  he 


DEUT.  32.  •  389 

might  eat  the  increase  of  ttie  fields ;  and  he  made  him  to  suck  honey 
out  of  the  rock,  and  oil  out  of  the  liiiity  rock  ; 

14.  Butter  of  kine,  and  milk  of  sheep,  with  fat  of  lambs,  and  rams 
of  the  breed  of  Bashan,  and  goats,  with  the  fat  of  kidneys  of  wheat ; 
and  thou  didst  drink  tlic  pure  blood  of  the  grape. 

The  fatness  of  this  fertile  Land  calls  out  the  richest 

poetic  imagery. "He  made  him  ride  on   the  high 

phu^es  of  the  earth  " — letting  him  down  just  a  little  yet 
but  a  little  from  the  symbol  of  the  eagle's  lofty  flight. 
"  Hiding  on  the  high  places  of  the  land" — as  if  his  were 
a  railway  path,  stretched  from  summit  to  summit,  rest- 
ing only  on  mountain  peaks,  commanding  every  mag- 
niticent  prospect;  or  with  an  eye  to  his  conquest  of 
Canaan,  the  jwct  sees  him  sweeping  through  with 
the  tread  of  a  conquercr,  for  the  jjhrase  seems  to  con- 
ceive of  the  hill-tops  as  the  strategic  points  in  war,  com- 
manding the  whole  country.  As  we  might  expect,  Isa- 
iah admired  and  adopted  this  gem  of  poetry  (Isa.  58 :  14). 

The  richest  luxuries  of  oriental  climes  lie  at  the  na- 
tion's feet ;  honey  and  oil ;  butter  and  milk ;  rams  and 
goats;  "with  the  fat  of  the  kidneys  of  wheat"  which 
curiously  .draws  its  terms  for  the  b&st  of  wheat  from  the 

favorite  qualities  of  animal  food. In  v.  14  the  Heb. 

word  for  "  pure  "  ["  jmre  blood  of  the  grape  "],  means  by 
its  etymology — eft'ervescing,  bubbling  up,  in  the  process 
of  fermentation.  Our  translators  probably  supposed  it 
to  have  worked  itself  "  pure "  by  this  process.  The 
word  seems  to  describe  the  process — not  the  subsequent 
state. 

lo.  But  Jeshurun  waxed  fat,  and  kicked  :  thou  art  waxen  fat,  thou 
art  grown  thick,  thou  art  covered  with  fatness  ;  then  he  forsook  God 
ichich  made  him,  and  lightly  esteemed  the  liock  of  his  salvation. 

]().  They  provoked  him  to  jealousy  with  strange  gods,  with  abom- 
ina.tions  provoked  Ihey  him  to  anger. 

17.  They  sacrificed  unto  devils,  not  to  God ;  to  gods  whom  they 
knew  not,  to  new  gods  that  came  newly  up,  whom  your  fathers  feared 
not. 

18.  Of  the  Rock  that  begat  thee  thou  ai-t  Tinniindful,  and  hast  for- 
gotten God  that  formed  thee. 

Here  is  the  sad  moral  result  of  being  over-fed,  over- 
tempted. "Jeshurun,"  the  upright  one  ;  he  who  had 

bound  himself  by  covenant  to  walk  uprightly  with  God. 

The    Hebrews  constantly    associate    fatness  witli 

moral    obtuseness,    insensibility,    and    consequent  ob- 


890  LAST    WORDS   OF   MOSES. 

liquity.  The  ceremonial  distinctions -of  things  clean 
and  unclean  assumed  this — swine  being  utterly  un- 
clean, and  the  fatty  portions  of  sacrificed  animals  being 
accounted  good  only  for  burning  on  the  altar.  Hence 
the  figure — Jeshurun,  too  fat  for  self-control  and  self-de- 
nial ;  too  fat  for  the  worship  of  the  pure  and  holy  One ; 
and  consequently  he   forsook  the  God  who  made  and 

blessed  him. The  verb  for  "  lightly  esteemed"  means 

to  regard  as  dried  up ;  withered  ;  of  faded  beauty.  So 
Israel  thought  of  their  God  though  he  had  been  to  them 
the  Rock  of  their  salvation.  The  sad  fact  of  their  fall 
into  idol-worship  is  reiterated  and  made  imiDressively 
emphatic.  They  provoked  God  to  jealousy ;  for  how 
could  he  be  otherwise  than  jealous  when  they  cast  him 
off  and  gave  their  hearts'  homage  to  devils  ;  to  new  gods, 
unknown  to  their  fathers ;  gods  that  were  no  gods  at 
all ! The  Hebrew  word  here  for  "devils  "  means  pri- 
marily lords — mightj''  ones.  The  Septuagint  and  Vul- 
gate give  it  demons — true  to  the  ultimate  idea,  for  all 
idol-worship  is  equivalent  to  the  worship  of  the  devil, 

being  real  obedience  to  his  Avill. The  blackness  of  this 

guilt  lies  in  its  forgetting,  disowning  God,  our  Great 
Benefactor ;  our  only  real  Friend. 

19.  And  when  the  Lord  saw  it,  he  abhorred  them,  because  of  the 
provoking  of  his  sons,  and  of  his  daughters. 

20.  And  he  said,  I  will  hide  my  face  from  them,  I  will  see  what 
their  end  shall  be :  for  they  are  a  very  froward  generation,  children 
in  whom  is  no  faith. 

21.  They  have  moved  me  to  jealousy  with  that  which  is  not  God  ; 
they  have  provoked  me  to  anger  with  their  vanities:  and  I  will 
move  them  to  jealousy  with  those  which  are  not  a  people  ;  I  will  pro- 
voke them  to  anger  with  a  foolish  nation. 

The  most  cruel  point  as  to  God  was  that  this  insult 
came  from  his  own  '■'' sons  and  daughters^     From  them 

lie  might  expect  better  treatment. What  shall  he  do.? 

What  can  he  do,  less  than  to  hide  his  face  from  them 
and  to  leave  them  to  try  the  friendship  of  the  new  gods 
the}''  had  so  madly  chosen  ?     "I  will  see  what  their  end 

shall  be."     They  will  see  in  due  time  ! In  v.  21  there 

is  a  play  upon  the  words — the  same  verbs,  "move  to 
jealousy  "  and  "  provoke,"  being  used  first  of  their  ways 
toward  God ;  next,  of  God's  ways  in  retribution  toward 
them.  Paul  (Rom.  10:  14)  assumes  that  this  passage 
at  least  applies  well  if  indeed  it  does  not  refer  primarily 


DEUT.  32.  391 

to  God's  judgments  on  Israel  by  casting  her  off,  and 
taking  into  her  place  of  privilege  the  Gentiles  whom 
Israel  had  been  wont  to  regard  as  nobody. 

22.  For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  my  anger,  and  shall  bnrn  unto  the  low- 
est hell,  and  shall  consume  the  earth  with  her  increase,  and  set  on 
lire  the  foundations  of  the  mountains. 

23.  I  will  heap  mischiefs  upon  them;  I  will  spend  mine  arrows 
upon  them. 

24.  They  shall  be  burnt  with  hunger,  and  devoured  with  burning 
heat,  and  with  bitter  destruction  :  1  will  also  send  the  teeth  of  beasts 
upon  them,  with  the  poison  of  serpents  of  the  dust. 

25.  The  sword  without,  and  terror  within,  shall  destroy  both  the 
young  man  and  the  virgin,  the  suckling  also  with  the  man  of  gray 
hairs. 

These  are  the  vrals  of  retributive  judgment  j^oured 
out  on  Israel,  first  for  her  persistent  idolatries;  last 
for  her  murder  of  her  King  Messiah.  The  fire  is 
thought  of  as  burning  deep;  not  merely  skimming  the 
surface  but  penetrating  to  the  deep  foundations  of  her 
mountains.  "Hell"  here  is  not  to  be  taken  in  its  mod- 
ern usage — the  place  of  future  punishment — but  in  the 
early  Hebrew  sense  as  lying  below  tlie  earth's  surface — 
the  "pit"  into  whicli  Korah  and  his  company  went 

down. "Burnt  witli  hunger  "  (v.  24)  is  more  literally 

exhausted,  their  vitality  sucked  out  of  them  by  famine — 

a  fearful  doom ! The  sword  abroad  and  terror  at  home 

(literally,  "  in  the  chambers  "),  shall  bereave  [Heb.]  both 
the  young  man  and  tlie  virgin — a  calamity  well  com- 
pared to  bereavement  of  most  loved  ofi'sj^ring. 

26.  I  said,  I  would  scatter  them  into  corners,  I  would  make  the 
remembrance  of  them  to  cease  from  among  men : 

27.  Were  it  not  that  I  feared  the  wrath  of  the  enemy,  lest  their 
adversaries  should  behave  themselves  strangely,  and  lest  they  should 
say.  Our  hand  is  high,  and  the  Lord  hath  not  done  all  this. 

28.  For  they  are  a  nation  void  of  counsel,  neither  is  there  any  un- 
derstanding in  them. 

The  thought  is  that  for  these  great  sins  the  Lord 
would  have  utterly  annihilated  Israel  were  it  not  for 
the  honor  of  his  name  before  the  nations  as  their  rec- 
ognized  God. The  word  for  "scatter  into  corners" 

means  rather,  to  bloiv  aivay  as  with  his  powerful  breath. 

It  is  not  precisely  the  '^  ivrath"  of  the  enemy,  but 

rather  the  irproochcs,  or  the  underlying  spirit  wliich 
would  manifest  itself  in  insult  and  haughtv  exultation. 


392  LAST   WORDS   OF   MOSES. 

The  context  shows  the  true  idea.  Lest  they  should  say 
'*  Israel  is  down  because  our  hand  is  high  and  our  power 
resistless.  We  have  done  it.  Their  God  is  far  enough 
from  being  Almighty." "Behave  themselves  strange- 
ly "  should  rather  be — should  reason  strangely ;  should 
make  this  strange  inference,  that  the  fall  of  Israel  was 
due  to  their  own  great  power,  rather  than  to  God's  for- 
saking them  for  their  great  sin. 

29.  O  that  they  were  wise,  that  they  understood  tliis,  iJiat  they 
would  consider  their  latter  end  ! 

30.  How  should  one  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand 
to  Hight,  except  their  Eock  had  sold  them,  and  the  Lokd  had  shut 
theni  up? 

31.  For  their  rock  is  not  as  our  Eock,  even  our  enemies  themselves 
feeing  judges. 

How  does  the  tenderness  of  a  loving  Father's  heart 
pour  itself  out  in  these  matchless  words  !  0  if  my  peo- 
ple were  only  wise ;  wise  to  know  and  appreciate  their 
Great  Benefactor!  Wise  to  render  him  the  homage,  the 
trust,  and  the  love  of  their  heart !  How  would  one  of 
them  chase  a  thousand  of  their  foes  if  only  their  God 
were  on  their  side  ;  if  he  who  is  their  Rock  and  Strength 

had  not  sold  and  disowned  them  ! Expressively  Moses 

adds — For  as  they  very  well  know — we  have  it  on  their 
own  admission — their  Rock  is  not  as  our  Rock;  their 
gods  were  never  like  our  God.  Moses  did  not  say  this 
without  authority.  He  remembered  how  the  Egjqjtian 
hosts  in  the  Red  Sea  cried  out,  "Let  us  flee  from  the 
face  of  Israel,  for  the  Lord  fighteth  for  them  against  the 
Egyptians  "  (Ex.  14 :  25).  The  testimony  of  Balaam  was 
still  fresh:  "God  hath  blessed;  I  can  not  reverse  it. 
The  Lord  his  God  is  with  him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king 
is  among  them.  God  brought  them  out  of  Egypt;  he 
hath  as  it  were  the  strength  of  a  unicorn.  Surely  there 
is  no  enchantment  against  Jacob,  nor  any  divination 
against  Israel.  Behold,  the  people  shall  rise  up  as  a 
great  lion,"  etc.  (Num.  23 :  20-2-4).  The  fame  of  God's 
wonders  for  Israel  was  already  abroad  among  all  the 
adjacent  nations,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  words  of  Rahab 
(Josh.  2:  9-11). 

32.  For  their  vine  is  of  the  vine  of  Sodom,  and  the  fields  of  Go- 
morrah :  their  grapes  are  grapes  of  gall,  their  clusters  are  bitter : 

33.  Their  wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons,  and  the  cruel  venom  of 
asps. 


DEUT.  32.  893 

34.  Is  not  this  laid  up  in  store  willi  me,  and  sealed  up  among  my 
treasures  ? 

35.  To  me  belonffelh  vengeance,  and  recompense;  their  foot  shall 
slide  in  clue  time  :  ior  the  day  of  tlieir  calamity  is  at  hand,  and  the 
things  that  shall  come  upon  them  make  haste. 

By  a  somewhat  sudden  transition  of  thought,  "for" 
[first  word  of  v.  32]  answers  the  implied  question — 
Why  then,  if  Israel's  Rock  is  so  mighty,  does  not  Israel 
live  and  triumph  in  perpetual  victory  and  prosperity? 
Do  ye  ask,  W/iy  owtf  Because  they  are  corrupt  like 
Sodom;  their  "vine"  being  put  poetically  for  them- 
selves morally  considered.  Their  heart  and  life  are  al- 
together rotten. In  v.  34  I  take  the  sense  to  be — Do 

I  not  remember  all  their  sin  ?  Is  it  not  laid  uj?  before 
me,  awaiting  its  time  for  a  fearful  retribution,  sealed 
up  as  securely  as  one  keeps  his  choice  treasures  ? 
"Vengeance  belongeth  to  me" — is  my  sole  prerogative, 
and  can  not  fail  of  its  due  execution. 

36.  For  the  Lord  shall  judge  his  people,  and  repent  himself  for 
his  servants,  Avlien  he  seeth  that  their  power  is  gone,  and  there  is  none 
shut  up,  or  left. 

37.  And  he  shall  say,  "Where  are  tlieir  gods,  their  rock  in  Mhom 
they  trusted, 

38.  "Which  did  eat  the  fat  of  their  sacrifices,  and  drank  the  "wine 
of  their  drink  oflerings?  let  them  rise  up  and  help  you,  and  be  your 
protection. 

God  will  arise  for  judgment  and  retribution.  Calam- 
ities must  scourge  the  guilty;  mercy  will  sjDare  the 
innocent  and  ultimately  save  his  Zion.  In  the  latter 
portion  of  this  song  (vs.  36-42),  the  divine  agency  seems 
to  be  of  a  twofold  character ;  exterminating  the  hope- 
lessly guilty,  but  sparing  and  restoring  the  penitent, 
and  ultimately  retrieving  the  fortunes  of  his  kingdom. 

When  God  seeth  that  his  people  are  powerless  and 

none  remain,  either  bond  or  free,  shut  up  or  let  go  [the 
sense  of  the  Hcb.  words  translated  "shut  up  or  left"], 
he  will  ask.  What  has  become  of  the  gods  to  whom  my 
people  have  apostatized,  with  whom  they  ate  their  sac- 
rifices in  common  ?  Since  those  gods  have  utterly  failed 
them,  let  me  call  their  attention  to  myself.  Perhaps 
now  it  will  not  be  in  vain. 

39.  See  now  that  I,  even  I,  am  he,  and  there  is  no  god  with  mo:  I 
kill,  and  I  make  alive;  I  wound,  and  I  heal;  neither  is  there  any  that 
can  deliver  out  of  my  hand. 


394  MOSES   BLESSES   THE   TRIBES. 

40.  For  I  lift  up  Diy  hand  to  heaven,  and  say,  I  live  forever. 

41.  If  I  whet  my  glittering  sword,  and  mine  hand  take  hold  on 
judgment;  I  will  render  vengeance  to  mine  enemies,  and  will  re- 
ward them  that  hate  me. 

42.  I  will  make  mine  arrows  drunk  with  blood,  and  my  sword 
shall  devour  flesh ;  and  that  with  the  blood  of  the  slain  and  of  the 
captives  from  the  beginning  of  revenges  upon  the  enemy. 

They  shall  know  the  power  of  their  God.  When  I 
lift  up  my  awful  hand  to  bring  down  retribution  on  the 
guilty  apostates  among  my  people,  shall  not  my  arrows 
be  drunk  with  blood  and  my  sword  devour  flesh  ?  The 
guilty  must  fall;  yet  through  the  fires  of  these  sore  judg- 
ments Zion  shall  be  purified  and  so  redeemed. The 

last  clause  of  v.  42  Avere  better  read — "From  the  head 
of  the  princes  of  the  enemy." 

43.  Eejoice,  O  ye  nations,  ^rith  his  people  :  for  he  will  avenge  the 
blood  of  his  servants,  ?nd  will  render  vengeance  to  his  adversaries, 
and  will  be  merciful  unto  his  land,  and  to  his  people. 

This  closing  strain  brings  out  in  unmistakable  terms 
the  idea  which  seems  to  have  been  implied  since  v.  36, 
viz.  that  these  great  judgments  on  Israel  will  not  ulti- 
mately break  down  God's  cause  and  kingdom,  but  will 
only  cut  off  the  hopelessly  reprobate  and  really  bring 
deliverance,  purity,  salvation,  to  Zion.  Therefore  let 
all  the  nations  rejoice  with  his  people.  They  have  a 
dee^Der  interest  than  they  are  yet  aware  of  in  this  inwi- 
fying  process  for  the  ultimate  redemption  of  Zion.  The 
prophetic  eye  of  Moses  sees  through  to  the  glorious  in- 
gathering of  the  Gentiles  to  Christ,  and  seems  to  trace 
the  connection  of  this  ingathering  with  the  judgments 

sent  on  apostate  Israel  in  the  first  Christian  age. 

The  outcome  of  this  song  is  therefore  ultimately  hope- 
ful to  the  real  Zion.  It  gives  a  fearfully  dark  view  of 
the  guilty  apostasies  of  Israel — those  which  culminated 
first  in  the  cajitivity  to  Babylon;  last  in  the  fall  of  their 
city  before  the  Romans.  In  the  result  God  vindicates  his 
great  name ;  purifies  his  people,  and  spreads  the  glory 
of  his  name  far  abroad  among  the  nations.  - 

Deut.  33. 

The  blessing  of  Moses  ujwn  the  tribes  shortly  before  his  death. 

This  blessing  of  Moses  follows  in  general  the  usage 
of  patriarchal  times,  as  seen  in  Noah,  but  especially  in 


DEUT.  33.  395 

Jacob,  the  great  tribe-father  (Gen.  49).  It  also  folloAvs 
the  impulses  of  the  great  heart  of  Moses,  now  a  patriarch 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  who  had  long  outlived 
the  associates  of  his  earlier  days ;  who  had  suffered  and 
borne  every  thing  for  his  people  and  had  labored  for 
them  more  than  a  father  for  his  sons  and  daughters.  In 
this  parting  hour  he  has  some  last  blessings  to  bequeathe 
before  his  eyes  shall  close  in  death.  Let  us  listen  to  his 
dying  benedictions. 

The  first  five  verses  apply  generally  to  all  the  tribes. 
The  last  four  also  are  general  rather  than  special ;  while 
the  intervening  portion  of  the  chapter  (vs.  6-25)  is  made 

up  of  special  benedictions  upon  the  several  tribes. 

Note  also  that  while  the  "  Song"  [chap.  32]  is  largely  in 
the  minor  strain — a  sad  prophetic  vision  of  the  nation's 
future  apostasies  and  consequent  calamities,  this  chap- 
ter is  2nire  benedict  ion — the  outpouring  of  hopeful  prayers 
and  heartfelt  good  wishes,  with  no  shade  of  anticipated 
disaster,  no  foreseen  calamities. 

1.  And  this  is  the  blessing,  wherewith  Moses  the  man  of  God 
blessed  the  children  of  Israel  before  his  death. 

2.  And  he  said,  The  Lord  came  from  Sinai,  and  rose  up  from 
Seir  unto  them  ;  he  shined  forth  from  Mount  Paran,  and  he  came 
with  ten  thousands  of  saints:  from  his  right  hand  u-ent  a  fiery  law 
for  them. 

3  Yea,  he  loved  the  people ;  and  all  his  saints  are  in  thy  hand  : 
and  they  sat  down  at  thy  feet ;  every  one  shall  receive  of  thy  words. 

4.  Moses  commanded  us  a  law,  even  tlie  inheritance  of  the  con- 
gregation of  Jacob. 

5.  And  he  was  king  in  Jcshurun,  when  the  heads  of  the  people 
a-nd  the  tribes  of  Isi'ael  were  gathered  together. 

The  first  thing  to  be  noticed  was  that  greatest  fact, 
equally  of  the  life  of  Moses  and  of  the  life  of  all  Israel, 
viz.  the  coming  forth  of  the  glorious  God  in  majesty  so 
sublime  from  the  mountains  of  Sinai.  How  did  the 
blaze  of  his  glory  illumine  her  towering  summits  and 
Hash  forth  from  all  her  hill-tops!     Such  a  coming — 

when  had  the  world  ever  seen  before? "Rose  up 

from  Seir  "  would  suggest  to  a  Hebrew  the  rising  of  the 

sun  in  his  glory. "He  came  xrith  ten  thousands  of 

saints,"  says  our  English  version ;  but  the  Hebrew  has 
it  from — the  same  preposition  Avhich  is  used  before  Si- 
nai, Seir,  and  Paran — certainly  implying  therefore  that 
God  came  forth  from  the  midst  of  those  ten  thousand 
holy  ones  in  a  sense  analogous  to  that  in  which  he 


396  MOSES   BLESSES   THE   TRIBES. 

shone  forth  from  Sinai,  Seir,  and  Paran.  He  must  re- 
fer to  holy  angels  to  whom  in  great  numbers  Jacob  was 
introduced  at  Bethel  and  Mahanaim.  But  whether  the 
Lord  came  forth,  from  them,  leaving  them  in  heaven,  or' 
shone  forth  from  among  them,  attending  him  on  Sinai, 
can  not  be  certainly  determined  from  the  words  used 
here.  Other  scriptures  however  speak  of  the  law  as 
given  bj^  the  ministration  of  angels,  and  therefore  fully 
imply  their  presence  on  Sinai  at  the  giving  of  the  law. 
See  Ps.  68:  17,  and  Acts  7:  53,  and  Gal.  3:  19,  and  Heb. 

2:  2. The  last  clause  of  v.  1 — "from  his  right  hand 

went  forth  a  fiery  law  for  them  " — involves  grave  diffi- 
culties of  a  sort  which  can  not  well  be  put  before  the 
English  reader.  The  word  translated  "law"  is  un- 
known to  the  ancient  Hebrew — is  not  the  word  used 
for  law  in  v.  4  and  in  the  Pentateuch  generally.  The 
best  critical  authorities  would  unite  these  two  words 
which  our  translators  supposed  to  mean  "  fire "  and 
"law,"  into  one  word  of  quite  difterent  signification, 
referring  perhaps  to  the  pillar  of  fire  [Gesenius] ;  or  to 
some  geographical  point  [Fuerst]  ;  or  to  flashes  of  light- 
ning [Keil]. V.  3  is  singularly  abrupt,  and  conse- 
quently the  course  of  thought  is  obscure.  God  was  lov- 
ing the  people  [continuous  action] — i.  e.  all  the  nations 
and  not  the  Hebrews  only — showing  that  God  shone 
forth  from  Sinai  in  love  to  the  race.  All  his  holy  ones 
are  his  wards,  upheld  by  his  arm.  They  lie  humbly  at 
his  feet;  in  filial  loving  obedience  they  receive  his 
words  —  indicating  most  beautifully  the  spirit  with 
which  all  true  souls  welcome  God's  uttered  words  as  to 
moral  duty.  It  is  perhaps  possible  that  [as  Keil  sug- 
gests] the  "holy  ones"  here  are  holy  angels;  yet  I  in- 
cline to  ap23ly  the  phrase, without  restriction  to  all  holy 

beings,  man  certainly  not  excluded. Moses  gave  us 

a  law,  as  a  legacy,  inheritance,  for  the  whole  congrega- 
tion of  Jacob.  He  [God]  was  King  in  Jeshurun  [over 
the  upright  people^,  even  over  all  that  great  nation  Avith 
its  congregated  tribes  and  their  tribal  leaders. 

6.  Let  Reuben  live,  and  not  die;  and  let  not  his  men  be  few. 

As  to  Reuben,  let  liis  tribe  be  perpetuated  and  not 
become  extinct ;  for  some  fear  on  this  point  might  have 
sprung  from  the  scenes  of  Num.  16;  the  fearful  death 


DEUT.  83.  397 

of  Dathan,  Abiram,  and  On,  all  sons  of  Reuben  (Num. 
16:  1,27). 

7.  And  this  is  the  blesmirj  of  Judali :  ami  lie  .said,  Hear,  Lord,  tlie 
voice  of  Judah,  and  bring  him  unto  his  people :  let  his  lian(is  be 
sufficient  for  him  ;  and  be  thou  a  help  to  him  from  his  enemies. 

Judah  is  thought  of  as  leading  the  tribes  in  battle, 
going  forth  in  advance  of  all  others  to  war.  Hence  the 
prayer — Bring  him  back  safely  to  his  people  from  the 
scenes  of  battle.  Let  his  hand  [military  jjower]  be 
equal  to  any  emergency. 

8.  And  of  Levi  he  said,  Let  thy  Thummim  and  thy  Urim  be  with 
thy  holy  one,  whom  thou  didst  prove  at  Massah,  and  with  whom 
thou  didst  strive  at  the  waters  of  Meribah  ; 

9.  Who  said  unto  his  father  and  to  his  mother,  I  have  not  seen 
him;  neither  did  he  acknowledge  his  brethren,  nor  knew  his  own 
children :  for  they  have  observed  thy  word,  and  kept  thy  covenant. 

10.  They  shall  teach  Jacob  thy  judgments,  and  Israel  thy  law; 
they  shall  put  incense  before  thee,  and  whole  burnt  sacrifice  upon 
thine  altar. 

IL  Bless,  Lord,  his  substance,  and  accept  the  work  of  hi?  hands: 
smite  through  the  loins  of  them  that  rise  against  him,  and  of  them 
that  hate  him,  that  they  rise  not  again. 

The  blessing  on  Levi  suggested  the  insignia  on 
Aaron's  breast-plate,  known  as  the  ^^Urim  and  Thvm- 
mim"  [described  somewhat  in  Ex.  28:  29,  30]— the 
words  signifying  Light  and  Right.  These  breast-plate 
insignia  were  used  in  some  way,  not  altogether  clear  at 
this  day,  in  obtaining  special  directions  from  the  Lord. 

The  tribe  of  Levi  as  a  whole  became  in  a  sense 

God's  "Holy  One,"  bearing  in  the  person  of  Aaron 
these  insignia.  God  had  joroved  them  at  Massah  and 
Meribah  Avhere  the  people  murmured  against  Moses 
and  Aaron.  It  was  especially  in  the  scenes  of  the  calf- 
worship  (Ex.  32)  and  of  the  Midianites  (Num.  25)  that 
the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  particularly  Phineas,  proved 
themselves  true  to  God,  with  higher  regard  for  him 
and  his  honor  than  for  father,  mother,  brethren,  or  chil- 
dren; for  they  remembered  and  honored  God's  word 
and  covenant.  Let  them  therefore  have  the  functions 
of  the  priesthood,  to  teach  Jacob  thy  law  and  to  minis- 
ter at  the  national  altar. 


398  MOSES    BLESSES   THE    TRIBES. 

12.  And  of  Benjamin  he  said,  Tlie  beloved  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell 
in  safety  by  hira  ;  and  the  Lord  shall  cover  him  all  the  day  long,  and 
he  shall  dwell  between  his  shoulders. 

Let  Benjamin,  the  beloved  of  the  Lord,  dwell  safely 
by  the  side  of  the  Lord,  his  protector,  abiding  between 
his  shoulders — i.  e.  upon  his  back  where  fathers  are 
"wont  to  place  their  children  to  bear  them  long  dis- 
tances. This  tribe  is  thought  of  as  God's  child,  to  be 
borne  upon  his  shoulder. 

13.  And  of  Joseph  he  said,  Blessed  of  the  Lord  be  his  land,  for  the 
precious  things  of  heaven,  for  the  dew,  and  for  the  deep  that  crouch- 
eth  beneath, 

14.  And  for  the  precious  fruits  brought  forth  by  the  sun,  and  for  the 
precious  things  put  forth  by  the  moon, 

15.  And  for  the  chief  things  of  the  ancient  mountains?,  and  for  the 
precious  things  of  the  lasting  hills, 

16.  And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  earth  and  fulness  thereof, 
and /or  the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush  :  let  the  blessing 
come  upon  the  head  of  Joseph,  and  upon  the  top  of  the  head  of  him 
that  was  separated  from  his  brethren. 

17.  His  glory  is  like  the  firstling  of  his  bullock,  and  his  horns  are 
like  the  horns  of  unicorns :  with  them  he  shall  push  the  people 
together  to  the  ends  of  the  earth :  and  they  are  the  ten  thousands  of 
Ephraim,  and  they  are  the  thousands  of  Manasseh. 

The  blessings  on  Joseph  comprise  all  good  upon  his 
land;  the  dew  and  the  shower,  the  sunshine  and  the 
moonbeams ;  all  the  products  of  the  mountains  and  of 
the  deep;— let  all  come  upon  the  head  of  him  who  was 
prince  among  his  brethren  [in  Egypt] — this  being  the 
sense,  rather  than  "separated"  from  his  brethren. 

18.  And  of  Zebulun  he  said,  Kcjoice,  Zebulun,  in  thy  going  out ; 
and,  Issachar,  in  thy  tents. 

19.  They  shall  call  the  people  unto  the  mountain;  there  they 
shall  ofier  sacrifices  of  righteousness:  for  they  shall  suck  of  the 
abundance  of  the  seas,  and  of  treasures  hid  in  the  sand. 

Let  Zebulun  and  Issachar  rejoice  both  in  their  going 
forth  and  in  their  tents ;  equally  in  their  labor  and  in 
their  repose.  Living  on  the  shore  of  the  great  sea,  let 
their  influence  go  forth  upon  and  bej^ond  the  great  wa- 
ters, calling  the  nations  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's 
house  for  worship  with  sacrifices  of  righteousness  to  the 
God  of  the  whole  earth ;  and  let  Zion  under  their  hand 
become  enriched  with  the  abundance  of  the  seas — of  all 


DEUT.  33.  399 

countries  beyond  the  seas — bringing  their  gold  and 
their  treasures  to  the  God  of  Israel.  Isaiah  has  the 
game  thought  often ;  c.  g.  chapters  49,  60,  and  66. 

20.  And  of  Gad  he  said,  Blessed  be  he  that  enlargeth  Gad: 
he  dwelleth  as  a  lion,  and  teareth  the  arm  with  the  crown  of  the 
head. 

21.  And  he  provided  the  first  part  for  himself,  because  there,  in 
a  portion  of  the  lawgiver,  was  he  seated ;  and  he  came  with  the 
heads  of  the  people,  ho  executed  the  justice  of  the  Lord,  and  his 
judgments  with  Israel. 

The  allusion  to  Gad  seems  to  be  built  upon  his  then 
recent  history — leading  the  movement  for  locating  the 
two  and  a  half  tribes  on  the  East  of  Jordan  and  fore- 
most in  battle  and  in  victory  over  the  national  enemy; 
prompt  also  to  go  over  Jordan  to  execute  God's  righteous 
judgments  on  the  devoted  nations  of  Canaan. 

22.  And  of  Dan  he  said,  Dan  is  a  lion's  whelp:  he  shall  leap  from 
Bashan. 

Dan  is  fierce  and  formidable  in  war,  to  which  his 
border  locality  on  the  extreme  North  may  have  con- 
duced. Jacob  touches  the  same  tribal  characteristic 
(Gen,  49  :  16,  17). 

23.  And  of  Naphtali  he  said,  O  Naphtali,  satisfied  with  favor,  and 
full  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  possess  thou  the  west  and  the 
south. 

24.  And  of  Aslicr  he  said.  Let  Asher  be  blessed  with  children ;  let 
him  be  acceptable  to  his  brethren,  andlet  him  dip  his  foot  in  oil. 

25.  Thy  shoes  sliall  be  iron  and  brass ;  and  as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy 
fitrength  be. 

Let  Asher  be  blessed  above  the  sons — may  be  the 
sense — the  favored  one  among  his  brethren.  May  thy 
castle-bars  [not  "  shoes  "]  be  of  iron  and  brass.  But  the 
best  authorities  on  the  word  "strength"  prefer  rest 
[Gesenius],  or  affluence  [Fuerst].  The  prayer  is  that 
this  rest  or  affluence  may  be  life-long. 

26.  There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun,  who  rideth  upon 
the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in  his  excellency  on  the  sky. 

27.  The  eternal  God  is  thj  refuge,  and  underneath  are  the  ever- 
lasting arms:  and  he  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  thee; 
and  shall  say.  Destroy  them. 

28.  Israel  then  .shall  dwell  in  safety  alone;  the  fountain  of  Jacqb 

18 


400  MOSES   BLESSES   THE   TRIBES. 

thall  be  upon  a  land  of  corn  and  wine ;  also  his  heavens  shall  drop 
down  dew. 

29.  Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel:  who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  people 
saved  by  the  Lord,  the  shield  of  thy  help,  and  who  is  the  sword  of 
thy  excellency!  and  thine  enemies  shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee; 
and  thou  shalt  tread  upon  their  high  places. 

These  words  of  unsurpassed  sublimity  and  most  ex- 
quisite poetry  set  forth  the  glories  of  the  God  of  Israel 
and  the  blessedness  of  the  people  who  enjoy  such  a 
Father  and  live  under  such  a  Protector.  Perhaps  we 
can  not  give  them  higher  praise  than  to  say  they  are 
worthy  of  the  pen  of  Moses — worthy  even  to  be  his  last 
words — the  noblest  utterances  of  one  who  above  any 
other  mere  man  had  communed  with  God  face  to  face  as 

man  does  with    his    dearest    friend. The    English 

translation  is  almost  faultless,  constituting  one  of  the 
grandest  passages  to  be  found  in  English  literature. 
In  the  last  clause  of  v.  27, 1  prefer  to  follow  the  Hebrew 
more  closely  and  say  simply  Destroy/  The  high  behest 
of  Jehovah,  hurling  the  enemy  forth  from  the  land  of 
his  people  is  best  expressed  in  the  emphatic  word, 
Destroy/ In  the  last  verse,  the  clause,  "Thine  ene- 
mies shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee,"  means  that  they 
shall  cringe,  fawn,  and  flatter  with  false  and  lying  pre- 
tenses to  gain  if  but  a  little  favor  from  a  people  so  ter- 
rible in  arms  as  Israel  with  God  on  her  side.  The  case 
of  the  Gibeonites  is  mostly  in  point. 

It  was  due  to  the  stand-point  of  IVfoses,  looking  forth 
across  the  Jordan  upon  the  earthly  Canaan,  beholding 
the  earthly  Israel  just  then  entering  there;  Jehovah 
the  shield  of  their  help,  the  sword  of  their  excellency, 
the  scourge  of  their  foes — this  mighty  God  riding 
sublimely  upon  the  heavens  for  their  help,  his  ever- 
lasting arms  underneath  them  forevermore — that  this 
view  should  be  primarily  of  scenes  in  the  present  life 
and  not  in  the  future ;  of  earthly  and  material  relations 
rather  than  of  spiritual.  Yet  let  us  not  forget  that  the 
manifestations  of  God  in  blessings  of  earthly  sort  fore- 
shadow like  manifestations  in  the  spiritual  life.  The 
God  who  saves  his  people  here  in  things  of  earth,  in 
ways  so  grand,  with  power  so  transcendant,  in  a  spirit 
so  parental  and  so  tender,  may  surely  be  trusted  to  save 
and  shield  and  bless  with  his  own  Godlike  wisdom  and 
power  against  spiritual  foes  and  for  the  other  world  no 


DEATH   AND    CHARACTER   OF    MOSES.  401 

less  than  for  this.  Surely  there  is  none  like  the  God 
of  Jeshurun  who  conies  in  the  tenderness  of  infinite 
pity  to  wipe  away  the  penitent  tear;  to  bind  up  Hearts 
broken  for  sin;  to  place  underneath  all  feeble  souls  his 
own  everlasting  arms;  to  bid  away  every  spiritual  foe 
with  the  mandate  Destroy;  and  to  gather  home  his  re- 
deemed in  his  own  best  time  to  his  Canaan  above,  of 
which  that  ancient  land  of  promise  gives  us  only  some 
poetic  images  and  some  illustrations  of  God's  faithful- 
ness and  love.  It  is  quite  well,  therefore,  to  exchange 
the  earthly  sense  of  this  sublime  passage  for  its  spirit- 
ual significance  and  transfer  its  imagery  to  tliat  world 
whose  glories  are  worthy  of  sublimer  strains  than  even 
these. 

The  death  and  character  of  Moses. 

These  benedictions  having  been  uttered,  it  remained 
for  Moses  to  see  the  goodly  land  with  his  eyes  and  then 
close  them  in  death.  The  record  is  that  his  vision  from 
the  top  of  Pisgah  swept  the  whole  country  of  Palestine 
even  to  the  Mediterranean— a  statement  which  implies 
miraculous  power.  We  must  either  tone  down  the 
statement  in  extent,  or  admit  a  superhuman  extension 
of  sight — the  latter  being  by  far  most  probable. 

The  record  assumes  that  at  his  death  Moses  had  no 
attendant  save  the  Lord  himself — a  circumstance  which 
throws  a  shade  of  doubt  over  the  ultimate  disposition 
of  his  body.  According  to  the  narrative  the  Lord  buried 
him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab;  yet  tlie  place  of 
his  burial  remained  unknown  to  mortals.  Was  the  fact 
of  his  being  buried  at  all  revealed  to  some  Hebrew 
prophet  by  special  inspiration ;  or  Avas  it  merely  as- 
sumed as  the  common  course  of  events;  or  was  his  body 
really  translated,  as  in  the  case  of  Enoch  and  Elijah  ? 
In  favor  of  the  latter  supposition  are  two  circumstances; 
viz.  the  allusion  by  Jude  (v.  9)  to  a  dispute  over  his 
body  between  Michael  the  archangel  and  the  devil ;  and 
his  appearance  together  with  Elijah  at  the  transfigura- 
tion of  Jesus  (Mat.  17:  3).  These  hints  comprise  all 
that  is  known  on  the  point  or  can  be  known  at  j^rcsent; 
or  as  we  may  say,  all  that  the  Lord  thought  it  impor- 
tant to  let  us  know. 

Altogether  in  keeping  with  the  masterly  vigor  of 
niiud  inaiiifested  in  the  last  exhortation  of  Moses  (cliap. 


i02  DEATH   AND    CHARACTER   OF   MOSES. 

27-31);  in  the  "Song"  (chap.  32);  and  in  the  tribal 
blessings  (chap.  33) — is  the  statement  that  although 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty,  "his  eye  was 
not  dim  nor  his  natural  force  abated."  The  Hebrew 
word  suggests,  instead  of  natural  force,  the  idea  of  fresh- 
ness, youthful  vigor.  How  wonderfully  were  his  powers 
of  both  mind  and  body  preserved  till  his  great  work 
was  done  ! The  historian  who  wrote  this  last  chap- 
ter says :  "There  arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like 
unto  Moses" — which  raises  the  question.  How  long  a 
period  of  time  is  embraced  in  this  comparison  ?  Was 
this  remark  made  in  the  time  of  Samuel,  or  in  the  time 
of  Ezra,  or  at  some  point  between  ?  Or  was  it  based 
upon  the  belief  or  the  special  revelation  that  the  divine 
policy  included  but  one  Moses — all  later  prophets  down 
to  the  coming  of  the  Great  Anointed  being  of  a  subordi- 
nate grade  ?  I  do  not  see  that  the  choice  between  these 
several  alternatives  can  be  made  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty, and  it  is  not  specially  important  that  we  at- 
tempt to  balance  nicely  the  mere  probabilities. 

We  think  of  Moses  (as  of  Paul,  Isaiah,  Daniel)  as  a 
sublime  illustration  of  God's  marvelous  resources  for 
raising  up  great  men  for  great  occasions.  Where  shall 
we  set  the  limit  to  these  resources  ?  True,  these  great 
men  die  (unless  they  may  be  translated),  but  their 
names  die  not;  their  work  does  not  die;  their  influ- 
ence travels  onward  down  the  ages,  and  will,  long  as 
men  live  on  the  earth.  They  are  the  world's  really 
great  men,  belonging  to  a  totally  different  order  from 
the  Caesars,  the  Alexanders,  and  the  Napoleons,  or  the 
Platos  and  the  Aristotles  of  the  race.  It  may  not  be  un- 
profitable to  note  that  all  these  were  modest  men;  meek 
above  most  other  men ;  of  unaspiring  spirit ;  true  to 
their  divine  mission,  and  little  caring  to  give  their 
thought  to  any  thing  else.  The  fact  in  the  recorded 
history  of  Moses  which  seems  to  me  the  very  gem  of  his 
life  was  that  God's  proposal,  twice  made  to  him,  to  cut 
off  all  Israel  and  make  of  him  a  great  nation  (Ex.  32 : 
10  and  Num.  14:  12)  did  not  get  from  him  a  moment's 
attention.  He  never  even  alluded  to  it.  But  as  the 
Lord  seemed  to  overlook  the  glory  of  his  own  name  be- 
fore the  nations,  Moses  took  the  responsibility  (boldly, 
shall  we  say?)  of  reminding  him  as  to  this  point.  Ap- 
Darentlv  his  soul  was  so  much  absorbed  in  this  line  of 


THE    MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND    THE    FUTURE    LIFE.        403 

considerations — the  glory  of  God  as  before  the  nations 
of  the  earth — that  he  could  not  let  it  drop  from  his 
range  of  view.  Hence  Moses  was  mighty  (almost  om- 
nipotent we  may  say)  in  prayer.  It  would  seem  to 
have  been  the  Lord's  special  purpose  to  bring  out  this 
prime  quality  of  his  religious  character  and  set  it  in 
sunlight  before  all  future  ages — an  illustration  of  the 
fact  that  the  great  men  of  all  time  are  mighty  with  God  in 
prayer.     They  know  the  secret  of  communion  with  God. 

They  have  easy,  unrestricted  access  to  his  throne. 

One  blemish — nay  rather,  one  sin,  stands  on  the  record 
of  his  life  in  his  own  hand-writing;  one  sad,  humil- 
iating fact  mars  his  history — viz.  that  at  Kadesh  his 
sensibilities  to  himself  were  too  keen ;  that  for  the  mo- 
ment, self  threw  even  his  God  into  the  shade,  and  he 
cried  out :  "  Ye  rebels ;  must  ice  fetch  you  water  from 
this  rock"?  True,  the  complaints  of  Israel  were  se- 
verely cruel  as  against  Moses ;  but  how  much  more  so 
against  God !  And  if  Moses  had  thought  and  felt  much 
less  as  to  himself  and  much  more  of  God,  he  had  passed 
through  this  stern  ordeal  unhurt.  From  that  point  on- 
ward this  sin  could  not  pass  altogether  out  of  his  mind. 
It  had  been  the  aspiration  of  his  life  to  see  the  goodly 
land  of  Canaan  and  to  plant  his  children — the  great 
Hebrew  nation — there  with  his  own  hand  and  see  them 
with  his  own  eyes  in  their  glorious  home !  AVe  sympa- 
thize in  his  disappointment  and  trial  in  that  he  must 
die  short  of  Canaan.  But  this  is  not  quite  a  sinless 
world.  The  painful  experiences  of  imperfection  force 
themselves  into  the  best  Christian  lives.  There  is  a 
better  life  beyond ! 

The  Mosaic  system  and  the  future  life. 

The  question  often  comes  up  in  even  the  most  candid 
and  honest  minds :  Why  is  the  Pentateuch  silent,  or  at 
least,  so  nearly  silent  as  to  the  rewards  and  punishments 
of  the  future  life? Moreover,  there  is  a  class  of  crit- 
ics who  are  fain  to  decry  the  Hebrew  people  as  almost 
contemptibly  low  in  point  of  knowledge,  culture,  and 
civilization,  and  who  are  wont  to  deny  that  the  Mosaic 
system,  civil  or  religious,  has  any  allusion  to  the  future 
life  or  even  assumes  its  existence. From  this  sup- 


404        THE    MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE   LIFE. 

posed  fact,  they  infer  that  the  Hebrew  people  and  even 
Moses  himself  had  no  hioivledge  of  the  future  life. 
In  briefly  discussing  this  subject,  I  propose, 

1.  To  qualify  somewhat  the  absolute  statement — No 
allusion  to  the  future  life  or  assumption  of  its  existence. 

2.  To  give  some  reasons  for  placing  the  Theocracy 
mainly  on  the  basis  of  temporal  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. 

3.  To  maintain  that  Moses  and  the  patriarchs  kncAV 
and  believed  in  the  future  life  as  one  of  rewards  and 
punishments. 

1.  I  propose  to  qualify  somewhat  the  absolute  state- 
ment— "No  allusion  to  the  future  life  and  no  assump- 
tion of  its  existence." 

Here  I  call  attention  to  the  remarkable  fact  that 
there  are  several  statutes  without  penalties — left  simply 
upon  the  consciences  of  men  and  upon  their  sense  of 

the  fear  of  God. As  to  those  Avho  violate  the  third  of 

the  ten  commandments,  it  is  simpl}^  said,  "The  Lord 
will  not  hold  him  guiltless";  but  it  is  not  intimated 
that  any  due  punishment  should  befall  him  in  the  pres- 
ent life.  The  statutes  touching  this  sin  stand  also 
without  penalties.  Correspondingly  the  statutes  forbid 
perjury ;  but  they  seem  to  leave  the  sanctity  of  the  sol- 
emn oath  upon  the  conscience  and  upon  men's  fear 
of  God.  So  of  the  precept,  "  Thou  shalt  not  revile 
the  judges,  nor  curse  the  rulers  of  thy  people"  (Ex. 
22 :  28). 

Now  it  scarcely  need  be  suggested  that  human  laws 
Avithout  penalties  are  mere  puerilities — virtually  no 
laws  at  all.  Suppose  under  any  human  government, 
sundry  statutes  were  left  without  penalties,  the  law 
saying  onl}^  "he  shall  bear  his  iniquity";  "his  sin 
shall  be  upon  him  "  :  Would  not  the  whole  bod}^  of  law- 
less, law-breaking  men  say  in  their  heart.  What  of 
that?  What  then?  Every  violator  of  human  law 
knows  well  enough  that  there  is  nothing  to  io-AX  from  it 
beyond  the  grave.  If  human  law  will  only  let  them 
have  their  way  in  this  world,  they  would  scofif  at  the 

thought  oiits  j^enalties  in  the  next. Now  my  point  is 

that  the  Hebrew  statutes  did  not  leave  the  law-break- 
er's conscience  in  this  attitude.  The  man  who  scorned 
those  statutes  because  they  stood  without  penalties  in 
this  world  had  something  to  think  of  for  the  world  to  come. 


THE    MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE    LIFE.        405 

Those  statutes,  left  without  i^enalties  for  this  life  were 
not  by  any  means  for  that  reason  powerless.  So  far 
from  being  powerless,  they  were  in  many  minds  more 
terrible  than  any  other  statutes.  Was  it  of  no  account 
to  them  that  God  had  said — "His  sin  shall  be  rqjon 
Jmn"  and  "he  shall  bear  his  iniquity"?  Did  they  not 
know  that  "  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God  " — fearful,  moreover,  not  because  he 
might  bring  trouble  on  them  in  time,  but  because 
there  is  an  after-life  and  the  same  dreadful  God  is 
there — terrible  to  those  who  have  defied  his  authority 

and  scorned  his  law  ? Therefore  the  statement  that 

this  Hebrew  code  did  in  no  manner  assume  the  exist- 
ence of  an  after-life  and  of  a  God  terrible  to  the  sinner 
there,  must  be  somewhat  modified. 

2.  lam  to  assign  some  reasons  for  putting  this  Theocracy 
mainly  on  the  basis  of  temporal  reicards  and  punishments. 

(1.)  It  was  to  be  administered  chiefly  by  human 
agents.  Human  judges  sat  upon  offenses  against  it, 
and  human  hands  executed  their  decisions. 1  qual- 
ify these  statements  with  the  Avords  "  mainly,"  "  chiefly," 

stating  this  as  being  the  case  for  the  most  part. The 

fact  as  to  human  agents  being  admitted,  there  is  no 
need  of  further  reasons  for  placing  the  administration 
of  this  government  mainly  on  the  basis  of  earthly  re- 
wards and  punishments — j^enalties  in  this  world,  not 
in  the  next.  How  could  human  judges  award  judg- 
ments for  the  world  to  come,  and  human  hands  execute 
them  there? 

(2.)  God  governed  Israel  as  a  nation,  not  as  an  indi- 
vidual man.  Now  since  nations  as  such  exist  in  this 
life  only,  it  follows  of  necessity  that  all  retribution  that 
is  truly  national  must  be  in  time,  not  in  eternity.  The 
nation  as  such  is  not  known  in  the  eternal  world. 
The  individuals  that  compose  the  nation  have  their 
,  own  jDersonal  account  to  settle  with  God  in  the  world 
to  come;  but  this  has  no  bearing  upon  the  government 
of  God  over  the  nation.  This  national  government 
must  be  complete  in  time,  else  it  remains  incomplete 
forever.  It  may  run  on  through  many  human  genera- 
tions; national  life  may  outlast  scores  of  individual 
human  lives;  but  God's  retribution  as  to  nations  must 
be  administered  in  this  world,  no  part  h'ing  over  to  the 
next.     Hence  when  God  made  himself  king  in  Jesh- 


406       THE   MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE    LIFE. 

urun  over  the  Hebrew  nation,  he  of  necessity  estab- 
lished a  government  to  be  administered  mainly  in 
time,  not  in  eternity;  b}^  tlic  rewards  and  penalties  of 

this  world — not  of  the  next. This  again  would  be  in 

itself  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  fact  we  are  accounting 
for,  even  if  there  were  no  other. 

(3.)  This  national  system  of  government  was  in- 
tended to  be  a  moral  lesson  for  all  other  nations  of  all 
time.  Hence  the  government  must  be  put  on  the  same 
basis  as  that  of  all  other  nations  in  the  point  of  2^Toviden- 
tial  retribution.  As  God  holds  every  nation  on  earth  to 
a  positive  retribution  in  time,  giving  them  prosperity 
for  their  righteousness,  and  adversity  for  their  violation 
of  the  common  laws  of  humanity ;  and  as  he  would  fain 
make  his  administration  over  Israel  a  cogent  moral 
lesson  to  every  other  nation  on  this  great  point,  he 
must  needs  govern  Israel  in  this  respect  as  he  governs 
them — i.  e.  administering  his  retributions  in  tivie. 

(4.)  Yet  one  reason  more.  Distinguishing  carefully 
between  God's  providential  government  and  his  moral — 
the  former  being  of  time  only ;  the  latter  of  both  time 
and  eternity;  the  former  being  (for  our  present  pur- 
pose) over  nations  as  such  ;  the  latter  over  individuals 
only  and  not  over  nations — it  remains  to  say  that  God 
manifestly  designed  his  providential  government  over 
Israel  to  be  suggestive,  perhaps  Ave  might  say  typical — 
certainly  illustrative  of  his  moral  government  over  all 
men  which  is  not  of  time  only,  but  which  reaches  into 
the  eternal  world.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  world  men 
needed  some  proof  that  God  would  punish  sin  in  the 
world  to  come.  They  needed  some  illustrations  of  God's 
character  as  a  righteous,  moral  governor.  Therefore  the 
Lord  planned  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  and  then  in  that  position,  to  give  to  mankind 
some  illustrations  in  this  Avorld  of  what  all  sinners  are 
to  believe  and  expect  for  themselves,  not  in  this  world 
only  or  chiefly,  but  in  the  world  to  come.  He  would 
make  this  limited  government  illustrate  that  universal 
one.  He  would  show  in  the  case  of  the  Hebrew  people 
under  his  law  what  all  men  have  to  expect  from  their 
righteous  God  when  his  moral  government  shall  have 
had  full  scope  and  shall  have  administered  its  perfect 
retribution  in  the  world  to  come.  This  divine  policy 
is  well  set  forth  by  Peter  (2  Pet.  2  :  4-9)  ;  "  For  if  God 


THE   MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE   FUTUEE    LIFE.       407 

f5paretl  not  the  angels  that  sinned  but  cast  them  down 
to  hell " ;  and  "  spared-  not  the  old  world,  but  saved 
Noah  "  ;  if  he  "  turned  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  into  ashes, 
but  delivered  just  Lot"; — then  (we  may  infer),  "the 
Lord  knoweth  hoiv  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  temptation, 
and  to  reserve  the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judgment  to 
be  punished."  Yes,  the  Lord  knoweth  hoio  to  do  this, 
and  he  means  to  let  all  living  men  see  that  he  knoweth 
how;  and  see  also  that  being  a  holy  moral  Governor,  he 
can  not  fail  to  do  it.  He  will  give  them  occasion  to 
see  in  his  ruling  over  nations  in  time  that  his  ruling 
over  individual  sinners  can  not  be  less  righteous — can 
not  be  less  retributive  according  to  deeds  done ;  and 
since  equal  and  perfect  justice  calls  for  more  time  than 
one  human  life  on  earth,  there  must  be  an  after  part  to 
it,  to  come  in  when  death  has  located  men  in  the  eter- 
nal world. This  designed  use  of  a  theocratic  govern- 
ment over  Lsrael  to  illustrate  God's  moral  relations  to 
every  individual  man,  required  an  administration 
mainly  in  this  world,  in  time,  before  human  eyes;  and 
is  therefore  another  reason  for  working  this  theocracy 

mainly  Avith  temporal  rewards  and  punishments. 

I  do  not  see  that  farther  reasons  can  be  rationally  called 
for. 

8.  I  am  to  rebut  the  inference  made  from  the  fact  of 
a  theocracy  administered  mostly  in  time,  viz.  that  Moses 
and  the  patriarchs  did  not  believe  in  or  even  know  of  a  future 
life. 

(1.)  The  inference  is  utterly  illogical.  The  rewards 
and  penalties  of  the  Hebrew  system  were  of  time  and 
not  of  eternity,  for  other  good  and  sufficient  reasons,  and  not 
necessarily  for  the  reason  that  the  Hebrew  law-giver 
and  his  people  knew  of  no  future  life.  To  be  of  any 
force  the  argument  must  assume  that  if  ]\Ioses  had 
known  of  a  future  life  he  would  have  built  this  system 
upon  it.     But  what  is  the  proof  of  that  ?     By  what  right 

is  that  assumed? On  the  contrary  there  are  reasons 

in  abundance,  not  to  say  in  excess — far  more  than  would 
be  sufficient — why  the  theocracy  should  be  temporal  in 
its  penalties,  whether  Moses  knew  or  did  not  know  of 
a  future  life. 

(2.)  That  Moses  and  the  patriarchs  assumed  and  be- 
lieved in  a  future  life  is  apparent  from  their  words. 


i08       THE    MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE   FUTURE  LIFE. 

Moses  wrote  of  Enoch  (Gen.  5 :  24) ;  "  And  Enoch 
walked  with  God ;  and  he  was-  not,  for  God  took  him." 
"Took  him"  where ^  Did  not  Moses  know  where? 
"  Took  him  " — in  what  sense  ?  Is  it  even  supposable 
that  Moses  thought  this  was  annihilation — taking  a 
godly  man  out  of  existence  ?  Extinguishing  his  being 
because  he  Avalked  with  God !  Is  this  a  credible  con- 
struction ?  Shall  it  be  assumed  that  Moses  was  so  ig- 
norant, or  so  misinformed,  or  so  little  versed  in  logic,  as 

this? If  the  Lord  had  made  this  problem  a  special 

study — how  best  to  teach  and  impress  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  blessed  life  for  the  righteous  who  walk  with  God 
on  earth,  Ave  can  not  see  how  he  could  have  improved 
upon  the  method  he  actually  adopted,  viz.  to  take  the 
godly  Enoch  from  earth  to  heaven  without  dying. 

Again,  Moses  constantly  spoke  of  the  death  of  the 
godly  patriarchs  as  a  being  "gathered  to  their 
people."  He  said  this  of  Abraham  (Gen.  25 :  8) ; 
of  Ishmael  (25  :  17} ;  of  Isaac  (35  :  29) ;  of  Jacob  (49  :  33). 
And  he  records  these  as  Jacob's  words  when  he  supposed 
Joseph  to  have  died :  "  I  will  go  down  into  Sheol  to  my 

son  mourning  "  (37  :  35). In  the  face  of  these  facts 

can  it  be  said  that  Moses  knew  nothing  of  the  future 
life  ?  Did  he  think  the  fathers — the  righteous  people — 
had  passed  by  death  into  non-existence — into  what  was 

not  life  in  any  sense  Avhatever  ? Again,  when  at  the 

bush  the  Lord  said  to  Moses  so  solemnly :  "  I  am  the 
God  of  thy  fathers ;  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  (Ex.  3 :  6),  is  it  credible 
that  Moses  was  so  obtuse  as  not  to  see  that  this  implied 
that  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  were  yet  living,  since 
the  Lord  could  not  be  the  God  of  dead  things,  but  only 

of  living  souls? A  sensible  view  of  the  case  may  be 

obtained  thus :  Suppose  that  Moses  had  replied — "  Lord, 
I  see  not  how  that  can  be,  for  Abraham  has  been  dead 
and  out  of  existence  more  than  two  hundred  years"! 
If  really  Mosos  had  no  knowledge  of  a  future  life,  he 
ought  frankly  to  have  made  substantially  this  reply  at 
the  bush. 

(3.)  In  proof  of  their  fciith  in  the  future  life,  is  an- 
other argument,  of  greater  force  if  possible  than  their 
words;  viz.  their  lives.  For  men  sometimes  say  more 
than  they  mean,  or  perhaps  something  other  than  what 
they  think;  but  their  lives  testify  truthfully  to  their 


THE   MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE    LIFE.      409 

real  beliefs. Here  we  might  expand  the  argument 

already  suggested  by  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  (11 :  8- 
16),  calling  up  to  review  the  actual  lives  of  the  patri- 
archs; how  Abraham  tore  himself  away  from  home  and 
kindred,  and  went,  obeying  a  call  believed  to  be  from 
God,  to  a  land  before  unknown;  how  he  and  his  family 
sojourned  as  strangers  there,  dwelling  only  in  tents  but 
"looking  for  a  city  on  beyond  which  hath  foundations 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God";  how  they  lived  in 
the  faith  of  promises  to  be  fulfilled  far  in  the  future 
ages  of  time ;  and  how  by  such  a  life  they  "  declared 
plainly  that   they  were   seeking    another   and   better 

country,  even  an  heavenly"  one. But  waiving  this, 

the  argument  will  be  more  directly  in  point  if  made  on 

the  case  of  the  man  Moses  himself. Born  a  slave,  it 

was  little  of  earth  that  he  had  at  his  birth  save  the 
faith  and  consequent  heroism  of  a  godly  mother.  In 
the  providence  of  God  it  fell  to  him  to  be  taken — 
a  beautiful  babe  of  three  months — into  the  family  of  the 
reigning  Pharaoh.  There  he  lived,  trained  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  Egypt,  till  he  was  full  forty  years  old.  Of 
prepossessing  person  and  splendid  talents ;  of  capacities 
equal  to  any  responsibility,  the  honors  of  all  Egypt  lay 
before   him — we   might   probably   say — were    pressing 

upon  his  acceptance.     What  did  he  do? The  writer 

to  the  Hebrews  answers  our  question  on  this  Avise: 
"  When  he  was  come  to  years,  he  refused  to  be  called 
the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  choosing  rather  to  suffer 
affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  :  esteeming  reproach  for 

Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt." 

Was  not  this  choice  and  all  this  course  of  conduct  un- 
accountably strange?  Did  any  man  in  his  senses, 
knowing  nothing  of  the  future  life,  ever  make  such  a 
choice  before  or  since  ?  What !  choose  affliction  before 
pleasure ;  reproach  before  the  highest  of  earthly  hon- 
ors? What  could  be  in  the  man  to  make  such  a  choice 
and  even  carry  it  out  in  his  actual  life? 

The  writer  of  this  Epistle  has  an  explanation  to  sug- 
gest. He  says  in  the  outset  that  Moses  had  faith — a 
sort  of  faith  described  by  himself  as  "the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen."  Quite  unlike  the  doctrine  of  the 
critics  above  referred  to — nay  squarely  in  the  face  of 
their  assumptions,  he  holds  up  this  Moses  as  a  special 


ilO       THE   MOSAIC    SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE    LIFE. 

and  illustrious  example  of  real  faith  in  the  future  life. 
"  By  faith  Moses  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter";  ^'' hy  faith  \\e  eBteevaQdi  reproach  for  Christ 
greater  riches  than  Egypt's  treasures — for  he  had  re- 
spect to  the  recompense  of  the  reward."  Aye,  he  had 
his  eye  onward  upon  that  glorious  recompense  of  re- 
ward which  God  gives  his  people  when  the  joys  that 
are  transient  have  all  faded  out — when  the  life  that  is 
immortal  dawns  on  the  human  soul.  In  his  view  the 
pleasures  of  Egypt  were  only /or  a  season — too  short  to 
be  matched  against  the  joys  before  him — fully  believed 
in — that  endure  forever. 

Of  this  explanation,  say  what  else  men  may  of  it, 
they  must  admit  that  it  answers  the  purpose.  It  ac- 
counts for  the  choice  Moses  made  of  affliction  before 
pleasure ;  of  shame  before  the  highest  of  Egypt's  honors. 
This  explanation  represents  Moses  to  be  a  man  of 
sense,  and  not  a  fool.  Neological  criticism  holds  him 
up  to  the  world  as  void  of  all  sense — as  playing  the 
part  of  supreme  folly.  Paul  said—"  If  in  this  life  only 
Ave  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  misera- 
ble "  (1  Cor.  15 :  19).  lie  would  have  said  of  Moses,  If 
his  hope  and  belief  as  to  God  were  of  this  life  only — if 
he  had  no  belief  in  the  future  life  and  no  knowledge  of 
it,  then  he  was  of  all  men  most  foolish — most  void  of 
that  judgment  and  good  sense  which  are  common  to 

sensible   men. Therefore   I  claim  that  the    life  of 

Moses — the  Avhole  choice  and  purpose  and  labor  of  a  life 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  witness  to  his  full 
and  glorious  faith  in  the  future  life.  The  men  who 
deny  to  him  this  faith  stultify  not  Moses,  but  them- 
selves. 

(4.)  It  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to  suggest  that  over 
and  above  the  logical  merits  of  the  facts  themselves,  we 
have  the  current  traditions  of  .Jewish  history  and  the 
authority  of  the  inspired  Ncav  Testament  writers.  He 
Avho  Avrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews — a  man  of 
sense  as  his  Avritings  shoAV  and  of  surpassing  elo- 
quence and  power — must  have  spoken  the  current 
voice  of  Hebrew  tradition — to  say  nothing  (in  an  argu- 
ment Avith  Neologist  critics)  of  his  unquestionable  in- 
spiration from  God. 

(5.)  Still  further,  we  have  collateral  proofs  that  the 
future  life  was  known  in  the  age  of  Moses. Job  gave 


THE    IMOSAIC   SYSTEM    AND   THE    FUTURE   LIFE.        411 

a  grand  declaration  of  his  faith  that  after  the  perishing 
of  his  body  he  should  see  God  (Job  19 :  25-27).  Ba- 
laam, representing  the  thought  of  the  ancient  East, 
saw  and  believed  in  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous 

dead. And  to  mention  no  more — the  wise  men  of 

Egypt,  even  before  the  age  of  Moses,  believed  in  the 
future  life  of  man.  With  scarcely  a  doubt  they  built 
their  pyramids  in  the  faith  of  man's  immortality. 
Sepulchers  Avith  them  had  a  special  and  grander  signifi- 
cance because  they  thought  of  man,  not  as  dropping  at 
death  into  annihilation,  but  as  having  even  then  a 
future  nobler  life  before  him.  It  is  more  than  supposa- 
ble  that  the  art  and  practice  of  embalming  the  body — 
thus  providing  for  it  a  sort  of  immortality — was  really 
an  outgrowth  of  their  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  and  of  its  returning  again  to  its  former  bodily 

home. That  the  Egyptians  held  the  doctrine  of  a 

future  life  and  of  future  rewards  and  punishments  ac- 
cording to  the  deeds  of  this  earthly  life,  is  not  ques- 
tioned at  all  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  her  ancient 
mythology.  Symbolic  representations  are  found  which 
are  affirmed  to  be  nothing  else  but  the  personification 
of  the  grand  principle  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  the  necessity  of  leading  a  virtuous  life.*  Also  a 
picture  "rei^resenting  the  trial  and  judgment  which  the 
Egyptians  supposed  the  soul  of  a  man  to  undergo  be- 
fore he  was  allowed  to  enter  the  regions  of  rest  and  hap- 
piness.""!"  R.  S.  Poole  (in  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary 

on  "  Egypt,"  p.  675)  says :  "  Tlie  great  doctrines  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  man's  responsibility,  and  future 
rewards  and  punishments  were  taught"  [in- Egypt]. 
"  The  Egyptian  religion  in  its  reference  to  man  was  a 
system  of  responsibility,  mainly  depending  on  future 
rewards  and  punishments."  "  Every  Israelite  who 
came  out  of  Egypt  must  have  been  "fully  acquainted 
with  the  universally  recognized  doctrines  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  man's  responsibility,  and  future 

rewards  and  punishments." Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson,  in 

supplementing  this  article  on  "Egypt,"  refers  to  Dr. 
Lepsius  as  having  given  the  earliest  known  text  of  the 
[Egyptian]  "Book  of  the  Dead"  "  which  contains  the 

''  Greppo's  Essay,  p.  2.']5. 
t  Greppo's  Essay,  p.  237. 


412       THE    MOSAIC   SYSTEM   AND   THE    FUTURE   LIFE. 

important  doctrines  of  the  immortality  of  the  sonl,  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  body,  the  judgment  of  both  good 
and  bad,  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  the  justifica- 
tion of  the  righteous  and  their  admission  to  the  blessed 
state  of  the  gods"  (p.  688).  See  also  Bib,  Sacra.  Oct. 
1867,  p.  775,  and  Jany.  1869,  p.  190. 

Hence  we  must  conclude  that  even  if  it  were  possible 
that  the  Hebrews  had  no  knowledge  of  the  future  life 
before  they  went  to  Egypt,  they  must  have  learned  it 
there.  Really  however,  the  fact  that  this  doctrine  ap- 
pears in  the  oldest  records  of  Egyptian  antiquity  proves 
that  it  came  down  from  Noah — not  to  say  from  Adam. 
It  was  not  indigenous  and  original  with  Egypt.  It  was 
there  because  Egypt  had  retained  the  primitive  beliefs 
of  the  race. 

In  concluding  this  argument,  I  refer  to  the  allusions 
which  appear  in  the  Psalms  to  the  future  life  (e.  g.  Ps. 
17,  and  37,  and  49,  and  73), — which  speak  of  it  not  as 
being  then  a  new  revelation,  just  sprung  upon  the  uni- 
versal darkness  of  all  foregoing  ages,  but  distinctly  as 
an  old  doctrine,  to  be  learned  by  "  going  into  the  sanc- 
tuary of  God"  and  there  hearing  the  old  Hebrew 
scriptures  publicly  read;  and  also  to  be  seen  as  illus- 
trated and  assumed  in  the  records  of  God's  judgments 
in  time  on  such  sinners  as  those  of  the  old  world,  and 
of  Sodom,  and  as  Egypt's  hardened  king.  Let  it  suffice 
here  to  specify  Ps.  73,  whose  author  says  of  himself: 
"  I  was  envious  at  the  foolish  when  I  saw  the  prosperity 
of  the  wicked.  It  was  too  painful  for  me  until  I  went 
into  the  sactuary  of  God;  then  I  understood  their  end,. 
Surely  thou  didst  set  them  in  slippery  places;  thou 
castedst  them  down  into  destruction." — "  But  [all  un- 
like their  doom]  thou  wilt  guide  me  with  thy  counsel 
and  afterward  receive  me  to  glory.  Whom  have  I  in 
heaven  but  thee  ?  And  there  is  none  upon  earth  that 
I  desire  besides  thee.  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth ; 
but  thou  art  the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion 

forever." The   good  men  who  wrote  thus,  and  the 

worshiping  congregations  who  sung  these  rapturous 
strains  in  their  temple  worship  were  not  in  utter  dark- 
ness as  to  the  final  doom  of  the  wicked,  or  as  to  the 
glorious  future  life  of  the  righteous. 

la  closing  this  volume  it  only  remains  to  refer  in  a 


PROGRESSIVE    DEVELOPMENTS   OF   TRUTH.  413 

word  to  the  progressive  developments  of  God's  truth  as 
manifest  in  these  closing  portions  of  the  Pentateuch. 
Of  previous  points  and  periods  in  this  history  as  devel- 
oping progress  I  have  spoken  when  the  scenes  were 
fresh  in  our  reading  and  thought ; — particularly  of  the 
age  before  the  flood ;  of  the  scenes  in  the  life  of  Jacob 
and  Joseph;  of  the  scenes  of  the  Exodus  and  at  Sinai; 

of  the  civil  code  and  also  of  the  religious  Institutes. 

The  few  incidents  of  history  during  the  forty  years  of 
wilderness  life  bring  us  new  lessons,  some  exceedingly 
instructive  in  regard  to  the  intercessory  prayers  of 
Moses;  many  sadly  painful,  touching  the  unbelief,  the 
murmuring,  the  sensualit}',  and  the  idolatrous  tenden- 
cies of  Israel.  If  it  were  not  that  apostasies  from  God 
occur  in  our  own  age,  not  at  all  less  guilty  considering 
the  light  sinned  against,  though  less  revolting  perhaps 
to  the  current  religious  sentiments  of  the  age,  we  might 
perhaps  afford  to  pass  these  historic  developments  with 
little  notice.  Alas,  that  they  should  reveal  sins  of  the 
human  heart  which  it  so  much  behooves  us  to  study 
for  our  own  admonition  ! 

The  book  of  Deuteronomy  is  an  acquisition  to  the 
moral  forces  of  the  Pentateuch.  Speaking  now  spec- 
ially of  its  first  eleven  chapters  and  of  its  last  nine ; 
i.  e.  of  the  review  which  Moses  gives  of  the  scenes  of 
Sinai  and  of  his  accumulation  of  predicted  woes  and  of 
appeals  at  once  tender  and  terrible  in  the  last  chaj^ters, 
it  is  not  easy  to  over-estimate  their  moral  power.  Let 
us  hope  that  they  thrilled  the  very  heart  of  that  gen- 
eration and  toned  up  their  religious  life  with  impulses 
not  only  deep  and  strong  but  abiding.  That  generation, 
then  about  to  enter  Canaan  under  Joshua,  was  unques- 
tionably the  best,  morally,  which  appears  throughout 
the  entire  history  of  Israel.  For  proof  of  this  estimate 
of  them  it  must  suffice  to  refer  to  the  spirit  manifested 
in  Josh.  1 :  16-18  and  in  the  entire  scenes  of  Josh.  22, 
and  indeed  in  the  history  throughout  this  book  of  Joshua. 

Leaving  Egypt  while  yet  young  or  wilderness  born  ; 

mostly  uncontaminatcd  with  her  idolatries  and  pollu- 
tions of  moral  life,  looking  upon  the  scenes  of  the  Exo- 
dus and  of  Sinai  with  young  eyes  and  susceptible  souls  ; 
trained  under  Moses  forty  years;  taking  the  ritual  of 
religious  worship  in  its  freshness,  with  hearts,  let  us 
hope  in  a  good  measure  tender  to  its  first  strong  im- 


414  rROGRESSIVE   DEVELOPMENTS   OF   TRUTH. 

pressions — they  give  us  certainly  the  best  fruits  of  this 
wonderful  moral  and  religious  training.  So  many 
fearers  of  God — so  large  a  host  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  obedience  to  God's  authority — the  world  had  never 
seen  before.  They  were  prepared  of  God  for  the  con- 
quest of  Canaan.  They  are  living  witnesses  that  the 
discipline  of  those  desert  wanderings  was  not  in  vain — 
witnesses  also  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  forces  of  the 
new  revelations  Avhich  God  made  of  himself  during 
those  forty  years  from  Egypt  to  Canaan. 


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TJie  Good  Report ;  Morning  and  Evening  Lessoitn 
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Cloth,  $1.25. 

Tlioughts  on  Personal  Religion :  Being  a  Treatise  on 
the  Christian  life  in  its  two  chief  elements — Devotion  and  Prac- 
tice. With  two  new  chapters  not  in  previous  editions.  Bj 
Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.  D.  Fourth  American  Edition, 
enlarged.  With  a  Prefatory  Note  by  George  H.  Houghton, 
D.  D.,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Transfiguration  in  the  City  of 
New  York.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

Office  of  the  Holy  Communion  in  the  JBook  of 
Cominon  Frayer.  A  Series  of  Lectures  delivered  in  the 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist.  By  Edward  Mktrick 
Goulburn,  D.  D.  Adapted  by  the  author  for  the  Episcopal  Ser 
vice  in  the  United  States.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

Sermons  Freached  on  Various  Occasions  during 
tJie  Last  Twenty  Years.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Gout 
burn,  D.  D.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

The  Idle  Word  :  Short,  Religious  Essays  on  the  Gift  of  Spoech 
and  its  EmplojTnent  in  Conversation.  By  Edward  Metkioi 
GocLBURN,  D.  D.     1  vol.,  12mo.     Cloth,  75  cents. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Derotional  Study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  By  Edward  Meyrick  Goulburn,  D.  D 
First  American  from  the  Seventh  London  Edition.  1  vol., 
12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

Either  of  the  aiMve  seait  free  br  Mall  on  reoelvt  of  tbe  prion 


CowLEs's  Notes  on  the  Old  Testameni 


I,     THE  3IINOK   mOFHETS. 

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II.    EZEKIETj   AXD   nANIEL,, 

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III.    ISAIAH. 

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JF.    rBOVEBBSy   ECCLESIASTES,   AND 
THE   SONG    OF  SOLOMON. 

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V.    NOTES    ON  JEREMIAH. 

1  vol.,  12mo,     $2.25. 


By   Rev.    HENRY   COWLES,   D.    D. 


From  Tlie  Christian  Intelligencer,  N.  T. 
"These  works  are  designed  for  both  pastor  and  people.  They  emhody  tho  re- 
milts  of  much  research,  and  elucidate  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  with  admirable 
force  and  simplicity.  The  learned  professor,  having  devoted  many  years  to  th« 
close  and  devout  study  of  the  Bible,  seems  to  have  become  thoroughly  furnished 
with  all  needful  materials  to  produce  a  useful  and  trustworthy  commentary." 

From  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  Tale  College. 
"There  Is.  within  my  knowledg^e,  no  other  work  on  the  same  portions  of  th« 
Bible,  combining  so  much  of  the  results  of  accurate  scholarship  with  so  »auch  com- 
non-sense  and  so  much  of  a  practical  and  devotional  spirit." 

From  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Wolcott,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
"The  author,  who  ranks  as  a  scholar  with  the  most  eminent  sraduates  of  Tele 
Collepre,  has  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  the  origrinal 
ton^rues,  and  the  fruits  of  careful  and  independent  research  appear  in  this  work. 
With  sound  scholarship  the  writer  combines  the  unction  of  deep  religious  expe- 
rience, an  earnest  love  of  the  truth,  with  a  remarkable  freedom  from  all  fanciful 
«p<'culation,  a  candid  judgment,  and  the  Ciculty  of  expressing  his  thought*  clearlj 
md  forcibly," 

From  President  E.  B.  Fairfield,  of  Billsdale  College. 
'I  am  very  much  pleased  wth  your  Commentary.  It  meets  a  want  which 
aafl  lon^  been  felt.  For  various  reasons,  the  writings  of  the  prophets  have  const" 
tiled  a  sealed  book  to  a  large  part  of  the  ministry  as  well  as  most  of  the  common 
people.  They  aie  not  sufficii-ntly  understood  to  make  them  appreciated.  Toni 
brttjf  notes  relieve  them  of  all  their  want  of  interest  tti  common  r^eri.  I  tMab 
ran  hare  m^M  'uit  enough." 


CHRIST  IN  MODERN  LIFE. 


SERMONS  PREACHED  IN  ST.  JAMES  CHAPEL,  LONDON. 

By  Rev.  STOPFORD  A.  BROOKE,  M.  A., 

Honorary  Chaplain-in-Ordlnary  to  the  Queen.  ' 

I  volume,  i2mo.     Cloth Price,  $2.00. 

" Nobly  fearless,  and  singularly  strong.  .  .  .  Carries  our  admiration  throughout." 
— British  Quarterly  Review. 

"No  one  can  be  insensible  to  the  charm  of  his  style,  or  the  clear,  logical  manner  in 
which  he  treats  his  subject." — Churclnnan's  Monthly. 

"  No  one  who  reads  these  sermons  will  wonder  that  Mr.  Brooke  is  a  great  power  in 
London,  that  his  chapel  is  thronged,  and  his  followers  large  and  enthusiastic.  They 
are  fiery,  energetic,  impetuous  sermons,  rich  with  the  treasures  of  a  cultivated  imagina- 
tion."— Guardiatt. 

"In  the  style  in  which  it  is  written  it  is  beyond  all  praise  ;  in  clearness  of  diction,  in 
delicate  truth  of  analysis,  in  beauty  and  aptness  of  illustration,  in  earnestness  and  elo- 
quence of  address,  he  reminds  his  reader  continually  of  T.  W.  Robertson,  while  in 
depth  and  range  of  thought,  and  in  profundity  of  view,  he  is  the  superior  of  that  almost 
matchless  sermonizer.  He  unfolds  the  incarnation  of  the  Divine  Son  of  God  in  its  ap- 
plication to  all  needs  and  phases  of  humanity,  in  its  regenerating,  guiding,  forming, 
and  perfecting  graces;  in  its  solution  of  the  spiritual  problems  of  our  human  history ;  in 
its  adaptation  for  the  purposes  of  development,  and  sanctification,  and  saving,  and  per- 
fecting discipline  to  all  departments  of  human  life  and  action,  and  all  ages  of  our  pro- 
gressive life,  from  infancy  to  our  birth,  by  death,  into  a  higher  life  ;  in  its  adaptation  to 
individual  progression,  and  to  the  progression  toward  the  good  of  our  being,  of  our 
collective  humanity,  in  a  way  most  true,  and  admirable,  and  impressive.  He  pre- 
sents, squarely  and  fully,  the  position  of  Christianity  toward  scientific  research  in  the 
utmost  advancement  which  it  has  reached,  and  draws,  clearly  and  convincingly,  the 
boundary-line  between  scientific  research  and  religious  faith  and  thought,  along  which 
each  may  advance  in  its  own  legitimate  way,  without  calling  in  question  the  rightful 
action,  in  its  own  sphere,  of  the  other," — Church  Journal. 

"  There  is  a  manliness  of  tone,  a  vigor  of  illustration,  a  beauty  of  language,  and 
the  manifest  beating  of  a  loving  heart  in  its  pages,  which  challenge  our  admiration." 
— Christian  Observer. 

"The  sermons  throughout  are  strong  in  thought,  the  style  frequently  beautiful,  the 
topics  of  lively  interest.  The  book  is  altogether  healthful  and  invigorating."— C/ir/j- 
iian  Leader. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  55^  Broadway,  New  York. 


"A  rich  list  of  fruitful  topics'' 

Boston  Commonwealth. 


HEALTH  AND  EDUCATION, 

By  the   Rev.    CHARLES   KINGSLEY,   F.  L.  S.,    F.  G.   S., 

CANON  OF  WESTMINSTER. 

l2mo.     Cloth Price,  $1.75. 

"  It  is  most  refreshing  to  meet  an  earnest  soul,  and  such,  preeminently,  is  Charles 
Kingsley,  and  he  has  shown  himself  such  in  every  thing  he  has  written,  from  '  Alton 
Locke '  and  '  Village  Sermons,'  a  quarter  of  a  century  since,  to  the  present  volume,  which 
is  no  exception.  Here  are  fifteen  Essays  and  Lectures,  excellent  and  interesting  in 
different  degrees,  but  all  exhibiting  the  author's  peculiar  characteristics  of  thought 
and  style,  and  some  of  them  blending  most  valuable  instruction  with  entertainment, 
as  few  living  writers  can." — Hartford  Post. 

"  That  the  title  of  this  book  is  not  expressive  of  its  actual  contents,  is  made  mani- 
fest by  a  mere  glance  at  its  pages ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  collection  of  Essays  and  Lectures, 
written  and  delivered  upon  various  occasions  by  its  distinguished  author;  as  such  it 
cannot  be  otherwise  than  readable,  and  no  intelligent  mind  needs  to  be  assured  that 
Charles  Kingsley  is  fascinating,  whether  he  treats  of  Gothic  Architecture,  Natural 
History,  or  the  Education  of  Women.  The  lecture  on  Thrift,  which  was  intended  for 
the  women  of  England,  may  be  read  with  profit  and  pleasure  by  the  women  of 
everywhere." — St.  Louis  Democrat. 

"  The  book  contains  exactly  what  every  one  needs  to  know,  and  in  a  form  which 
every  one  can  understand." — Boston  Joicrfial. 

"  This  volume  no  doubt  contains  his  best  thoughts  on  all  the  most  important  topics 
of  the  day." — Detroit  Post. 

"Nothing  could  be  better  or  more  entertaining  for  the  family  library." — Zion's 
Herald. 

"  For  the  style  alone,  and  for  the  vivid  pictures  frequently  presented,  this  latest 
production  of  Mr.  Kingsley  commends  itself  to  readers.  The  topics  treated  are 
mostly  practical,  but  the  manner  is  always  the  manner  of  a  master  in  composition. 
Whether  discussing  the  abstract  science  of  health,  the  subject  of  ventilation,  the 
education  of  the  different  classes  that  form  English  society,  natural  history,  geology, 
heroic  aspiration,  superstitious  fears,  or  personal  communication  with  Nature,  we 
find  the  same  freshness  of  treatment,  and  the  same  eloquence  and  affluence  of  language 
that  distinguish  the  productions  in  other  fields  of  this  gifted  author." — Boston  Gazette. 

J).  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  N.  Y. 


Sir  HENSY  HOLLAND'S  RECOLLECTIONS. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  PAST  LIFE 

Jiy  Sir  HENJtT  BOZIjAND,  Bart., 

1  vol.,  12mo,  Cloth.    350  pp.    Price,  $3. 

From  the  London  Lancet. 
"  The '  Life  of  Sir  Ileiiry  Holland '  is  one  to  be  recollected,  pjid  he  has  not  erred 
in  giving  an  outline  of  it  to  the  public.  In  the  very  nature  ot  things  it  is  such  a 
life  as  cannot  often  be  repeated.  Even  if  there  were  many  men  in  the  profession 
capable  of  living  to  the  age  of  eighty-four,  and  then  writing  their  life  with  fait 
hope  of  further  travels,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  there  could  ever  be 
more  than  a  very  few  lives  so  full  of  incidents  worthy  of  being  recorded  auto- 

fraphically  as  the  marvellous  life  which  we  are  fresh  from  perusing.  The  com- 
ination  of  personal  qualities  and  favorable  opportunities  in  Sir  Henry  Holland's 
case  is  as  rare  aji  it  is  happy.  But  that  is  one  reason  for  recording  the  history  o( 
it.  Sir  Henry's  life  cannot  be  very  closely  imitated,  but  it  may  be  closely  studied. 
We  have  found  the  study  of  it,  as  recorded  in  the  book  just  published,  one  of  the 
moi^t  delightful  pieces  of  recreation  which  we  have  enjoyed  for  many  days.  .  . 
Among  his  patients  were  pachas,  princes,  and  premiers.  Prince  Albert,  Ka- 
poleon  m.,  Talleyrand,  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  Guizot,  Palmella,  Bulow,  and  Drouyn 
de  Lhuys,  Jefferson  Davis,  Lord  Sidmoutli,  Lord  Stowcll,  Lord  Melbourne,  Lord 
Palmerston,  Lord  Aberdeen,  Lord  Lansdowne,  Lord  Lyndhurst,  to  say  nothing 
of  men  of  other  note,  were  among  his  patients." 

From  the  London  Spectator. 

"We  constantly  find  ourselves  recalling  the  Poet  Laureate's  modernized 
Ulysses,  the  great  wanderer,  insatiate  of  new  experiences,  as  we  read  the  story 
of  the  octogenarian  traveller  and  his  many  friends  in  many  lands  : 

'  I  am  become  a  name  ; 
For  always  roaming  with  a  hungry  heart, 
Much  have  I  seen  and  known.    Cities  of  men 
And  manners,  climates,  councils,  governments, 
Myself  not  least  and  honored  of  them  all.' 
You  see  in  this  book  all  this  and  more  than  this— knowledge  of  the  world,  and 
insatiable  thirst  for  more  knowledge  of  it,  great  clearness  of  aim  and  exact  ap- 
preciation of  the  mind's  own  wants,  precise  knowledgeof  the  self-sacrifices  need- 
ed to  gratify  those  wants  and  a  readiness  for  those  sacrifices,  a  distinct  adoption 
of  an  economy  of  life,  and  steady  adherence  to  it  from  beginning  to  end— all  of 
them  characteristics  which  are  but  rare  in  this  somewhat  confused  and  hand-to- 
mouth  world,  and  which  certainly  when  combined  make  a  unique  study  of  char- 
acter, however  indirectly  it  may  be  presented  to  us  and  however  little  attention 
may  be  drawn  to  the  interior  of  the  picture." 

From  the  New  York  Times. 

"  His  memory  was— is,  we  may  say,  for  he  is  still  alive  and  in  possession  of 
all  his  faculties — stored  with  recollections  of  the  most  eminent  men  and  women 
of  this  century.  He  has  known  the  intimate  friends  of  Dr.  Johnson.  He  travelled 
in  Albania  when  Ali  Pacha  ruled,  and  has  since  then  explored  almost  every  part 
of  the  world,  except  the  far  East.  He  has  made  eight  visits  to  this  country,  and 
at  the  age  of  eighty-two  (in  1869)  he  was  here  again— the  guest  of  Mr.  Evarts,  and, 
while  in  this  city,  of  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed.  Since  then  he  has  made  a  voyage  to 
Jamaica  and  the  West  India  Islands,  and  a  sacond  visit  to  Iceland.  He  was  a 
friend  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Lockhart,  Dugald  Stewart,  Mme.  de  StaGl,  Byron, 
Moore,  Campbell,  Rogers,  Crabiie,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Talleyrand,  Sydney 
Smith,  Macaulay,  Ilallam,  Mackintosh,  Malthus,  Erskine,  Humboldt,  Schlegcf, 
Canova,  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Joanna  Baillie,  Lord  and  Lady  Holland,  and  many 
other  distinguished  persons  whose  names  would  occupy  a  column.  In  this  coun- 
try he  has  known,  amongother  celebrated  men,  Edward  Everett,  Daniel  Webster, 
ilenry  Clay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Seward,  etc.  He  was  bom  the  same  year  in  which 
Ibe  Lnited  States  Constitution  was  ratified.  A  life  extending  over  such  a  period, 
»nd  passed  in  the  most  active  manner,  in  the  midst  of  the  best  society  winch  the 
world  has  to  offer,  mu^t  necessarily  be  full  of  singular  interest ;  and  Sir  Henry 
Holland  has  fortunately  not  waited  until  his  memory  lost  its  freshness  before 
ibcalUng  some  of  the  incidents  in  it." 


PRIMARY  TRUTHS  OF  RELIGION. 

By  Right  Ret.  THOMAS  M.  CLARK,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

BISHOP  OF  EHODE  IBLAKF, 

1  vol.,  12mo.    Price,  $1.00. 

From  the  AUigemeine  Literarsehe  Zeitung^  Berlin : 

"  We  find  in  this  book  of  the  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island  a  contribution  to  Christian 
apolofretics  of  great  interest  and  value.  The  book  discusses,  in  five  parts,  the  problems 
of  Theism,  the  fundamental  principles  of  morals,  revelation,  inspiration,  and  Chris- 
tianity. The  great  questions  pertaining  to  these  several  heads  Bishop  Clark  has  most 
satisfactorily  solved  with  a  genuine  philosophical  spirit,  and  on  the  basis  of  compre- 
hensive studies.  The  work  gives  evidence  throughout  of  the  author's  familiarity  with 
the  fundamental  problems  of  the  philosophy  of  religion.  The  Bishop  is,  without 
doubt,  an  eloquent  and  original  thinker;  and  his  work,  which,  in  its  logical  develop- 
ment, is  acute,  and  clear,  and  precise,  will  enchain  the  interest  of  the  readers  for  whom 
it  has  been  written.  As  a  short  but  exhaustive  book  for  doubters,  we  greet  this  pro- 
duction of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  American  Episcopate,  and 
wish  for  it  an  abiding  success." 

Prom  the  English  CJiurohman  and  Clerical  Journal,  London : 
"Bishop  Clark  has  published  this  pithy  treatise  to  meet  the  unsettled  state  of  mind 
of  his  own  countr3'men  in  relation  to  the  '  fundam  ental  principles  of  faith  and  morals.' 
The  language  is  admirably  lucid  and  clear,  and  the  meaning  of  the  writer  is  never 
buried  under  profound  and  technical  phraseology,  too  often  used  in  such  works.  Cler- 
gymen will  find  it  excellently  fitted  for  teaching  to  thoughtful  working-men  in  their 
parishes." 

From  the  Chti/rch  Opinion,  London : 

"  Bishop  Clark's  work  is  invaluable,  as  it  is  not  written  in  a  style  above  the  capabili- 
ties of  the  general  public,  but,  in  words  easy  to  be  understood,  refutes  the  doctrines 
of  Positivism." 

From  a  review  in  the  Literary  World,  London: 

"  We  welcome  this  book  from  the  pen  of  an  American  Bishop.  Dr.  Clark  has  done 
well  in  this  volume  on  '  The  Primary  Truths  of  Religion.'  With  clearness,  concise- 
ness, logical  force,  breadth  of  tone,  wise  discrimination,  convincing  statement,  he  deals 
with  fundamental  facts.  Indeed,  the  whole  work  is  one  which  may  be  put  into  the 
hand  of  any  thoughtful,  sincere  unbeUever  in  the  great  truths  with  which  it  deals. 
Its  candor  will  awaken  admiration,  and  its  reasoning  lead  to  faith." 

From  the  New  TorJc  Express  : 

"The  author  of  this  valuable  little  work  is  a  distinguished  Bishop  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church,  and  has  conferred  a  benefit  on  his  co-religionists  and  on  earnest 
Christians  generally,  by  the  production  of  this  estimable  hand-book  of  Orthodoxy. 
Avoiding  dogmatic  theology,  he  clearly  and  with  great  eloquence  presents  the  scrip- 
tural and  historical  evidences  in  favor  of  revealed  religion,  meeting  the  cavils  of  ob- 
jectors with  calm  and  well-digested  arguments  that  will  claim  attention  from  even 
the  most  confirmed  skeptics.  The  chapters  on  the  evidences  of  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity  are  especially  worthy  of  commendation.  Indeed,  the  whole  work  will 
prove  an  acceptable  addition  to  the  controversial  religious  Uterature  of  the  day." 

From  the  Boston  Transcript : 

"This  clear  and  candid  treatise  is  not  dogmatic,  but  entirely  true  to  its  title.  The 
vnriter,  in  a  plain  and  lucid  style,  addresses  himself  to  the  unsettled  condition  of  mind 
which  prevails  so  extensively  in  regard  to  the  doctrines  that  underlie  all  our  'Systems 
of  Divinity.'  His  answers  to  fundamental  questions  are  given  in  a  catholic  spirit  that 
recognizes  the  fact  that  doubt  is  not  sinful  in  itself,  and  there  is  no  little  skepticism 
which  is  to  be  treated  with  sympathetic  and  rational  consideration." 

From  The  Lilting  Church  : 

"The  book  of  the  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island  is  timely.  It  is  of  a  kind  which  the 
church  needs.  It  is  fair,  honest,  and  open.  It  does  not  sneer  at  what  it  does  not  un- 
derstand. It  addresses  itself  in  simple  and  honest  terms  to  honest  and  thoughtful 
men.  It  is  calm  and  judicial.  It  states  ojjposing  views  with  great  fairness ;  it  takes 
up  a  position  which  must  command  respect,  and  it  states  it  in  terms  which  are  moder- 
ate, and  show  appreciation  of  the  force  of  opposing  views." 


New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO..  Publishers,  549  &  551  Broadwat. 


D.  AppJeton  &  Company''s  Publications. 


EIGHTEEN  CHRISTIAN  CENTURIES. 

By  the  Rev.  JAMES  WHITE, 

AtTTHOK   OF  A  HISTOKT  OF  FRANCE. 

1  vol.,  12ino.    Cloth.    538  pagres $1.75. 


COlSTTETsTTS. 

I.  Cent.— The  Bad  Emperors.— II.  The  Good  Emperors.- III.  Anarchy  aiul 
Confusion.— Growth  of  the  Christian  Church.— IV.  The  Eemoval  to  Constantinople. 
—Establishment  of  Christianity.— Apostasy  of  Julian.— Settlement  of  the  Goths.— 
V.  End  of  the  Roman  Empire. — Formation  of  Modern  States.— Growth  of  Ecclesi- 
astical Authority.— VI.  Belisarius  and  Narses  in  Italy.— Settlement  of  the  Lom, 
bards.— Laws  of  Justinian.- Birth  of  Mohammed.— VII.  Power  of  Rome  supported 
by  the  Monks.— Conquests  of  the  Mohammedans.— VIII.  Temporal  Power  of  the 
Popes.— The  Empire  of  Charlemagne.— IX.  Dismemberment  of  Charlemagne's 
Empire.— Danish  Invasion  of  England.— Weakness  of  France.— Reign  of  Alfred.— 
X.  Darkness  and  Despair.— XI.  The  Commencement  of  Improvement.— Gregory 
the  Seventh.— First  Crusade.— XII.  Elevation  of  Learning.— Power  of  the  Church. 
—Thomas  it,  Becket.— XIII.  First  Crusade  against  Heretics.— The  Albigenses.— 
Magna  Charta.— Edward  I.— XIV.  Abolition  of  the  Order  of  Templars.— Rise  of 
Modern  Literature.— Schism  of  the  Church.— XV.  Decline  of  Feudalism.— Agin- 
court.— Joan  of  Arc.— The  Printing-Press.— Discovery  of  America.— XVI.  The 
Reformation.- The  Jesuits.— Policy  of  Elizabeth.— XVII.  English  Rebellion  and 
Revolution.— Despotism  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth.— XVIII.  India.— America.— 
France. — Index. 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 

Mr.  White  possesses  in  a  high  degree  the  power  -^f  epitomizing— that  faculty 
which  enables  him  to  distill  the  essence  from  a  mass  of  facts,  and  to  condense  it  in 
description;  a  battle,  siege,  or  other  remarkable  event,  which,  without  his  skill, 
might  occupy  a  chapter,  is  compressed  within  the  compass  of  a  page  or  two,  and 
this  without  the  sacrifice  of  any  fcaturo  essential  or  significant.— Cen/t/ry. 

Mr.  White  has  been  very  happy  in  touching  upon  the  salient  points  in  the  history 
of  each  century  in  the  Christian  era,  and  yet  has  avoided  making  his  work  a  mero 
bald  analysis  or  chronological  table.— Providence  Journal. 

In  no  single  volume  of  English  Hterature  can  so  satisfying  and  clear  an  idea  of 
the  historical  character  of  these  eighteen  centuries  be  obtained. — Ilotne  Journal. 

In  this  volume  we  have  the  best  epitome  of  Christian  Histokt  extant. 
This  is  high  praise,  but  at  the  same  time  just.  The  author's  peculiar  success  is  in 
making  the  great  i)Oints  and  facts  of  history  stand  out  in  sharp  relief.  His  stylo 
may  be  said  to  bo  stkreoscopic,  and  the  effect  is  exceedingly  impressive.— Prari- 
dence  Press. 


A  Complete  Biblical  Library. 

THE 

TREASUEY  OF  BIBLE  KNOWLEDGE: 

BEING 

A     Dl  CTION  AR  Y 


The  Books,  Persons,  Places,  Events,  and  other  matters,  ofi 

■which    mention   is    made   in   Holy    Scripture.     Intended 

to  establish  its  authority  and  illiistrate  its  contents. 

By    REV.    JOHlSr    ^YRE,    M:.  ^., 

OF   tiONVILLE   AND   CAItTS   COLLEGE,    CAMBEIDGK. 

Illustrated  ivith  many  hundred  ivoodcuts  and  fifteen  full-page  steel  plates^ 
draiun  by  Justyne^  from  original  photographs  hy  Graham,  and  fi-ve 
colored  maps.      I  thick  "volume,  izmo,  o^  pages.      Price, 
Cloth,  §4.00  ,•    Haf  Calf,  as- 
sent free  by  mail  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


"  The  general  object  of  this  work  is  to  promote  the  intelligent 
use  of  the  Sacred  Volume  by  furnishing  a  mass  of  information  re- 
specting Palestine,  and  the  manners,  customs,  religion,  literature,  arts, 
and  attainments  of  the  inhabitants  ;  an  account  of  the  countries  and 
races  with  which  the  Hebrews  had  relations,  together  with  some 
notice  of  all  the  persons  and  places  mentioned  in  the  Bible  and 
Apocrypha.  The  history  and  authority  of  the  books  themselves  are 
discussed  conjointly  and  severally.  I  have  been  anxious  to  study  the 
best  authorities  for  what  is  asserted,  and  to  bring  up  the  informa- 
tion to  the  most  modern  standard.  I  have  not  written  hastily, 
therefore,  but  have  spent  some  years  in  the  compilation  of  this 
Yolume." — Extract  from  the  Preface. 

"  Among  the  books  which  should  find  a  place  in  the  collection  of 
every  Christian  man,  who  seeks  to  have  in  his  possession  any  thing 
beyond  a  Bible  and  hymn-book,  we  know  of  none  more  valuable 
than  '  The  Treasury  of  Bible  Knowledge.'  It  is  in  all  respects  the 
best,  as  it  is  the  most  convenient  manual  for  the  Bil)lical  student  yet 
published.  We  hope  to  see  this  work  in  the  hands  of  every  Sunday- 
school  and  Bible-class  teacher." — American  Baptist. 

u  »  *  *  Qj^g  Qf  ^jig  most  valuable  publications  ever  issued  hy 
that  house." — Xew  Yorker. 

D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY, 

Publishers  and  Booksellers, 

S49  &  551  Broadway,  New   York 


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